Columtiia  ^nibers^itp 
m  tJje  Citp  of  igeto  gorfe 


A 


LIBRARY 


GIVEN  BY 


V*  -f 


/^ 


Fig.  1.     (See  p.  180.) 


Fig.  2.    .(See  p..  209.) 


-'- 

-,-     -_      — -     ^^  ■             -^ 

L^Jl-  '^^  J  M~^     ~                  - 

"/'""""" 

— - 

-^  ***;!/  '       "'-- 

V                                          -,,^. 

^  ■'^' 

^-  ''      ^'"^     '  ."^^   ■       -7  ,- 

t  ', 

■^               *'*'                             r',^ ^-i-"          »                  ,                                                             '  ^ 

-'^        /-— ^--             ^^^^'           _^            y'''^ 

■*■ '           '     -^                       -'                                                    '              ' 

'}? 

-                         ..^;I   ^^^'*      ^  '           '      ^        ''' 

**       ,      ' 

— '                       ^^--^^^^                        '      ^     '    ''^/, 

/^  ^-.  — — »                        — ' 

'  * 

^                   -^_-                                                                                          y 

f    * 

.  J  ,^ 

'"" ^                                              .  ,.   j„                                                                 '                                     ta>  ' 

~'                             —-                                                                                               •             '-              --               -— 

Fig.  3.     (See  p.  181.) 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE 


THE  STORY  OF 

THE 

MOST  ANCIENT  CHURCH 


BY 
CARL  THEOPHILUS  ODHNER 


THE  ACADEMY  BOOK  ROOM 
BRYN  ATHYN,  PA. 

1913 


(j-Jf       tj    Jyipi    4"^ 


'I'T^ 


^Zl-'^^ 


SW^3tG 


^t\W^"^^ 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction    9' 

Chapter  I.  The  Successive  Dispensations 13 

Nebuchadnezzar 's  Dream.  The  Analogy  of  History.  The 
Most  Ancient  Church.  The  Ancient  Church.  The  Israel- 
itish  Church.  The  Christian  Church.  The  Church  of  the 
New  Jerusalem. 

Chapter  II.  The  Origin  of  Man 27 

The  Theory  of  Evolution.  Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  the 
Creation  of  Man.  The  Arboreal  Birth  of  Man.  The 
Home  of  Primeval  Man. 

Chapter  III.  The  Preadamites   39 

^* Heaven"  or  the  Internal  with  Primeval  Man.  The 
''Earth"  or  the  External  with  Him.  How  ''Heaven" 
first  came  to  the  "Earth." 

Chapter  IV.  The  Church  of  the  Golden  Age 58 

Adam,  the  Man  of  the  Ground.  The  Garden  of  Eden. 
The  Tree  of  Life  and  the  Tree  of  Science.  The  Eivers 
of  Eden.  Open  Communication  with  Heaven.  The  Word 
in  the  Golden  Age.     Their  Perception  of  God. 

Chapter  V.  Physiological  Characteristics  of  Prime- 
val Men 74 

Their  Brain.  Internal  Kespiration.  Their  Speech,  Hear- 
ing and  Countenance. 

Chapter  VI.  Life  in  Paradise 85 

The  Earthly  Paradise.    Social  Eolations.    Priesthood  and 
Eoyalty  united.     Occupations,  Dwellings  and  Worship. 
The  Name  "Jehovah."    Marriage  in  the  Golden  Age. 
5 


Chaptor  Vll.  'V\u:  Hfwv.n  of  the  (Ioldkn  Aca-. OS 

'Yhc  Most  Anoirnt  Honvon.  Swodonbor^ 's  Visit  to  tboir 
Momu.'vni.     'Vho  Ho.'uity  ot   tboir  l.ovo. 

C'hapu^r  N'lll.   Thk  PmiNK  of  thf  (Ioi.pfn  Ai^f 107 

Tho  Origin  of  Evil.  Tho  l^oirinning  of  tho  Pooliuo.  Cou- 
ditions  of  the  "First  Fostority."  Tho  F.-vll.  Tho  Curse 
jviui  tho  Froiniso.     Tho  Hope  o{  tho  Agos. 

Chapior   IX.   Thf  Aui:  of  ruF  rAruFVKOUs 12'J 

C:uu  :v.\d  Abol.  Tho  Curso  upon  Cain.  Tho  Cainitos  and 
tho  Sot  hit  OS.  Tho  Eomaius  of  tho  Most  Anoiout  Churcb. 
Fnocb. 

Chapter  X.  Thf   An tf.pu,fvfvn>    135 

In  tho  Pays  boforo  tho  Flood,  Tho  Xophiliui,  Autodi- 
luviau  Porsua&ious.     Life  anions;  tho  Autediluviaiis. 

Chaptor  XT.  Xo.\n  anp  tuf  Ffoop 145 

Tho  Focinninc:  ot  a  now  *.'hin\h.  Tho  Flood.  In  Ta.r- 
tar\)s.     Tho  Lord's  Victory  ovor  tho  doopost  llolls. 

Chapter  Xll.  LFtn:NPS  of  Ckfation 15S 

Tho  .\ssyrian  Tablotsi.  Borosns  iu  Chaldoa,  Egypt ia.u 
Cosmogony.  Tho  Rig  Voda.  Uosiod  and  Ovid.  The  Elder 
Edda..     Tho  Footrino  of   Confucius, 

Chapter  XI 11.  Lfufnps  of  tuf  Cofim:n  Age 179 

Assyrian  K<>cords.  Chaldean  Story  of  Oanuos.  Crook  and 
Latin  Legends.     The  Xorthoru  Sagas.     The  Zend  Avesta 

a.nd   Fura.na. 

Chapter  XIV.  Lfgfnps  of  tuf  F\\.\.  anp  tuf  Fatki- 

AKCUS      194 

Assyro-Cha.ldoan  Story  of  the  R<^bollion  in  Heaven.  For- 
siau  and  Hindu  Traditions.  Logonds  of  Central  Asia. 
An  Eobo  from  Madagiiskar.     American  Legends. 


COXTEXTS.  7 

Ch&i)t(tT  XV.  Legends  Conceenen'g  Enoch 201 

Ara?jic  Traditions — The  Aecount  of  Berogus.  'Enoch  and 
'^Ilormes  TriBmegistus. " 

Cliaptfir  XVI.  Legends  of  the  Fixxjd 209 

The  BaVjylonian  "Izdubar"  Legends.    A  grotesque  story  "^ 

from  Egypt.  The  Greek  and  Latin  Legends  of  Denkalion, 
Scandinavian,  Welsh  aod  Lithuanian  Legends.  Persian, 
Hindu  and  Chinese  Stories.     American  Traditions. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  DIAGRAMS. 

PAGE 

The  Fall ^ 

Noah  in  his  ark V  Frontispiece 

The  Asherah,  or  Sacred  Tree ) 

A  Chart  of  the  Ages 19 

The  Involution  and  Evolution  of  the  Word 25 

Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  Forms  and  Degrees 31 

The  Assyrian  Fish-god 182 

Chnemu  modelling  man 184 

The  Fall    194 

Mexican  representation  of  Eve,  Cain  and  Abel,  and  the  serpent.  .182 


EEFERENCES  TO  WORKS  BY  SWEDENBORG. 

A.  C. — The  Arcana  Celestia. 
Adv. — The  Adversaria. 
A.  E.  — The  Apocalypse  Explained, 
A.  R. — The  Apocalypse  Revealed. 

C.  L. — CoNJUGiAL  Love. 

Cor. — CoRONis  or  Appendix  to  the  True  Christian  Religion. 

D.  L.  W. — The  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom. 

Doc. — Documents  concerning  Swedenbobg.    By  R.  L.  Tafel. 
D.  P. — The  Divine  Providence. 
H.  H. — ^Heaven  and  Hell. 

N.  J. — The  New  Jerusalem  and  its  Heavenly  Doctrine. 
S.  D. — The  Spiritual  Diary. 
S.  D.  Min. — The  Smaller  Diary. 
T.  C.  R. — The  True  Christian  Religion. 
W.  L.  G. — The  Worship  and  Love  of  God. 

8 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  modern  science  of  Archeology  is  one  of  the  most 
evident  results  of  that  Last  Great  Judgment  which 
took  place  in  the  spiritual  world  in  the  year  1757. 
The  Lord  in  His  glorified  human  appeared  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven  when  the  internal  sense  of  the  Word  wa^  re- 
vealed through  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  The  divinely  ra- 
tional truths  of  the  new  revelation  set  free  the  "souls  under 
the  altar"  from  the  bonds  of  ancient  dogma  and  deception, 
and  as  by  a  mighty  east  wind  cast  dowTi  the  imaginary 
heavens  which  had  been  built  up  by  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant ecclesiasticism.  A  new  and  genuine  heaven  was  now 
formed,  through  which  the  heavens  of  the  Lord's  Ancient 
Churches  could  freely  flow  down  to  bless  mankind  with  the 
treasures  of  the  Ages  of  Silver  and  Gold.  To  their  influ- 
ence chiefly  is  due  the  new  interest  in  hoary  antiquity  which 
stirs  the  modern  world. 

On  the  earth  the  first  effects  of  the  Last  Judgment  were 
seen  and  heard  in  the  crash  of  ruined  despotisms.  The 
downfall  of  the  Jesuit  dominion  was  the  first  event  herald- 
ing the  era  of  spiritual  freedom.  The  American  Revolu- 
tion next  established  upon  the  earth  the  first  home  of  com- 
plete religious  liberty.  The  French  Revolution,  soon  fol- 
lowing, shook  Roman  Babylon  to  its  foundations  and  under 
the  cTgis  of  the  Corsican  spread  far  and  wide  the  cry  for 
Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity. 

Incidental  to  Napoleon's  triumphant  progress  was  the 
French  occupation  of  Egypt  in  the  year  1799,— the  most 
important  result  of  which  was  the  discovery  at  Rosetta  of  a 
stone  which  proved  to  be  the  key  that  had  been  wanting  for 
ages  to  unlock  the  rusty  portals  of  ancient  Egypt.  The 
science  of  Egyptology  arose  like  a  Phoenix  from  ruined 
temples  and  buried  tombs  and  at  once  struck  a  tremendous 


10  THE  GOLDEN  AGE, 

blow  at  the  literal  interpretation  of  Scripture  by  demon- 
strating the  impossibility  of  the  time-honored  chronology 
which  had  limited  the  history  of  the  human  race  to  six 
thousand  years. 

Some  forty  years  later  the  world  was  again  startled  by 
the  resurrection  of  ancient  Nineveh  from  the  mounds  of 
Kuyunjik,  and  the  science  of  Assyriology  suddenly  took 
its  place  beside  that  of  Egyptology.  The  results  to  Re- 
ligion were  even  more  important  than  the  discoveries  in 
Egypt,  for  now,  from  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  from  Nippur, 
and  Ur  of  the  Chaldeans,  there  came  to  light  a  mass  of 
documents  very  closely  related  to  the  Biblical  accounts  of 
Creation,  Paradise,  the  Fall  and  the  Flood, — stories  so 
ancient  that  a  new  school  of  Biblical  Criticism  claimed  for 
them  an  antiquity  greater  than  that  of  the  Bible  itself. 

Further  and  further  back  reached  the  chronological 
claims  of  Babylonia  and  Chaldea, — to  six,  seven,  even  ten 
thousand  years  before  our  era.  Ancient  Egypt  was  found 
to  be  but  a  child  of  Chaldea,  with  Ethiopia,  Libya  and 
Phoenicia  as  branches  of  the  same  stock.  The  civilization 
of  China  and  of  the  whole  Mongolian  race  was  traced  back 
to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates.  The  brotherhood  of  all  na- 
tions was  established  in  many  surprising  ways,  for  the 
study  of  Sanscrit  lore  proved  the  common  origin  of  Latin 
and  Teuton,  Celt  and  Slav,  with  branches  of  dusky  brethren 
in  Afghanistan  and  India.  Thus  the  materials  of  Arche- 
ology accumulated  in  bewildering  abundance,  and  towards 
the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  still  another  forgotten 
civilization  was  unearthed  in  Syria  and  Asia  Minor, — the 
empire  of  the  ancient  Hittites,  whose  secrets  still  continue 
to  baffle  the  learned  world.  And  synchronously  with  all 
these  discoveries  the  geologists  dug  up  from  the  strata  of 
the  earth  the  new  science  of  Paleontology,  with  its  paleo- 
lithic and  neolithic  men  claiming  for  the  human  race  an 
antiquity  of  untold  ages. 

But  with  all  this  enormous  wealth  of  new  knowledges 
and  sciences  the  modem  world  must  still  confess  its  dis- 
appointment in  the  continued  absence  of — Light!  Paleon- 
tology has  tried  in  vain  to  trace  the  descent  of  man  to  an 


INTEODUCTION.  H 

"anthropoid"  ape,  but  no  "missing  link"  has  ever  been 
found,  and  as  to  the  origin  of  man  the  learned  world  is  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  ever.  Egyptology  and  Assyriology 
disclosed  the  essentially  and  intensely  religious  nature  of 
the  ancient  civilizations  on  the  Nile,  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates,  but  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  religions  the  pro- 
fessors admit  themselves  at  a  loss.  The  more  they  study, 
the  more  multiple,  complex  and  confusing  appear  the  end- 
less lists  of  divinities,  with  ever  changing  names,  and  with 
sjonbols  and  attributes  closely  interwoven  and  yet  distinct. 
Archeologists  and  students  of  Comparative  Mythology  are 
in  despair  at  the  apparent  impossibility  of  constructing  in- 
telligible systems  out  of  this  rope  of  scientific  sand. 

To  that  simple  Faith  which  was  considered  the  bulwark 
of  human  happiness,  modern  science  has  brought  no  in- 
crease of  light.  It  has  only  served  to  tear  Christianity 
from  the  ancient  moorings  of  Divine  Revelation,  and  has 
set  the  churches  drifting  helplessly  on  an  ocean  of  doubt 
and  confusion.  The  "good  old  book"  which  in  past  ages 
was  looked  to  for  the  explanation  of  all  mysteries  of  faith 
and  science,  was  rejected  as  a  stupendous  compilation  of 
successive  forgeries,  and  there  is  no  longer  any  certainty 
as  to  the  common  source  of  tradition  and  legend,  myth  and 
religion.  That  there  was  such  a  common  source  every 
rational  student  admits,  but  where  it  is  to  be  found,  or 
how  it  is  to  be  understood,  the  learned  world  knows  not. 

And  yet  the  Light  that  is  wanting  to  co-ordinate  and 
explain  the  facts  of  Archeology  and  kindred  sciences,  was 
revealed  even  before  the  era  of  modern  discoveries  was 
ushered  in.  At  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
was  published  at  London  a  work  in  eight  quarto  volumes, 
entitled  Arcana  Ccelestia,  qu^  in  Scriptura  Sacra  seu 
Verbo  Domini  sunt,  detecta,  "The  Heavenly  Mysteries 
which  are  in  the  Sacred  Scripture  or  the  Word  of  the  Lord, 
disclosed."  The  author  of  this  work,  one  of  the  foremost 
scientific  men  of  his  age,  frankly  stated  that  he  had  written, 
not  from  human  light  and  learning,  but  from  immediate 
Divine  inspiration.  This  confession  at  once  brought  upon 
Emanuel  Swedenborg  the  incredulity,  contempt  and  ridi- 


12  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

eule  of  the  learned  and  the  religious  worlds,  and  in  this 
attitude  they  have  persisted  until  the  present  day,  steadily 
refusing  even  to  open  the  book  in  which  they  could,  if  they 
would,  find  the  solution  to  all  the  problems  that  now  be- 
wilder them. 

For  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work  there  are  unearthed 
whole  ffions  of  human  history,  the  very  existence  of  which 
has  been  forgotten  by  historians  since  the  days  of  Herod- 
otus, a  dim  recollection  remaining  only  in  the  fabulous 
classic  legends  of  Golden  and  Silver  Ages  to  which  no  mod- 
em scientist  pays  serious  attention.  But  in  the  Arcana 
CcELESTiA  the  historic  existence  of  these  traditional  ages  is 
demonstrated  with  scientific  precision  and  consistency  by 
means  of  a  new  or,  rather,  re-discovered  science, — the 
Science  of  Correspondences, — ^which  in  ancient  times  was 
the  ''science  of  sciences."  And  this  Divine  Archeology, 
reaching  back  to  the  ver\^  birth  of  mankind,  was  not  dug 
up  out  of  ruins  and  dust  heaps,  nor  yet  out  of  the  strata 
of  the  earth,  but  out  of  a  mine  of  infinite  wealth, — the  Word 
of  God  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Within  the  literal  sense  of  these  Scriptures  there  are 
depths  beneath  depths  of  interior  meanings  and  hidden 
senses,  referring  by  a  series  of  discrete  degrees  first  to  the 
general  religious  history  of  mankind,  then  more  universally 
to  the  religious  life  of  every  individual  man,  and,  inmostly 
in  every  single  word,  to  the  Divine  life  of  our  Lord  and 
Savior. 

In  the  present  volume  we  deal  only  with  that  interior 
sense  which  lies  nearest  to  the  surface  of  the  letter, — the 
Internal  Historical  Sense  of  the  Word  as  contained  in  the 
opening  chapters  of  Genesis  and  as  now  disclosed  in  the 
Writings  of  the  New  Church,  revealing  the  history  of  the 
Lord's  Most  Ancient  Church  among  the  men  of  this  earth, 
the  Church  of  Adam,  the  Church  of  the  Golden  Age.  We 
can  present  here  only  an  outline  of  this  history ;  for  fuller 
details  the  reader  must  go  to  the  Divine  Revelation  itself, 
which  every  discovery  of  modem  science  serves  to  con- 
firm, and  with  which  all  the  traditions  and  myths  of  an- 
tiquity falls  into  harmonious  and  illustrative  lines. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS. 

As  every  society  of  men  forms  one  larger  man,  so  the 
whole  of  mankind  in  its  most  universal  aspect  is  a  "Maxi- 
mus  Homo, ' '  one  Grand  Man,  possessing  all  the  forms  and 
functions  of  an  individual  man.  And  the  spiritual  his- 
tory of  this  Grand  Man,  from  first  creation  to  the  present 
day,  has  been  similar  to  the  life-story  of  every  single  man, 
for  the  Church  of  God  among  men  has  passed  through  the 
ages  of  infancy,  youth,  manhood  and  old  age,  and  when 
at  last  it  seemed  to  die,  it  rose  again  into  a  new,  spiritual 
and  everlasting  life. 

As  every  general  thing  consists  of  parts  similar  to  itself, 
so  each  of  the  successive  ages  of  the  Lord's  one  and  uni- 
versal Church  has  in  itself  been  a  Church  or  general  Dis- 
pensation.    In  the  past  there  have  been  four  of  these  gen- 
eral Churches,  corresponding  to  the  four  atmospheres  of 
the  universe,  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  the  four  peri- 
ods of  the  day,  the  four  seasons  of  the  year,  the  four  ages 
of  a  human  life.     For  the  Church  of  the  Lord  first  arose 
in  the  East,  in  the  golden  dawn  of  innocence  and  love  of 
God ;  this  was  the  morning,  the  spring-time,  the  infancy  of 
the  race,  when  men  lived  and  breathed  in  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  Heaven.     But  they  fell  from  their  pristine  glory, 
and  another  Age  succeeded,  spiritual  indeed,  but  not  ce- 
lestial.    The  Church  had  moved  from  the  East  to  the  South, 
from  the  love  of  God  to  the  love  of  the  neighbor.     The 
atmosphere  now  prevailing  was  a  magnetic  aura  of  mutual 
love,  and  the  sunlight  of  spiritual  wisdom  still  shone  upon 
men  in  the  noon-time,  summer  and  early  youth  of  the  race. 
But  this  Church  also  perished,  and  mankind  moved  from 
the  South  to  the  region  of  the  setting  sun.     Love,  charity 
and  wisdom  were  lost  among  the  gathering  clouds  of  falsity 

13 


14  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

and  evil.  Men  became  purely  natural,  but  there  still  lin- 
gered about  them  an  Ether  of  Faith,  though  this  Faith 
was  mostly  blind  obedience  to  precepts,  the  spirit  of  which 
had  been  lost  in  the  mist  of  earthly  loves.  The  Sun  of 
Righteousness  then  arose,  with  healing  in  His  wings,  but 
men  comprehended  Him  not  because  their  deeds  were  e^dl. 
A  few  simple  folk  beheld  the  Light,  as  through  a  glass 
darkly,  and  what  they  saw  they  proclaimed  rejoicing,  and 
thus  they  passed  on  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  in  His  hu- 
man to  a  new  Church,  which  for  a  short  time  shone  brightly 
as  a  new  and  glorious  Star  in  the  dark  firmament.  But 
the  Christian  Church  moved  on  from  the  West  to  the  North. 
The  Star,  by  the  magic  formulas  of  man-made  creeds,  soon 
lost  its  lustre,  then  disappeared.  An  obscure  knowledge 
of  the  Lord  remained  with  some,  producing  a  still  breath- 
able Air,  but  the  light  of  the  Word  sank  beneath  the  hori- 
zon of  the  Dark  Ages,  and  a  night  of  universal  ignorance, 
a  winter  of  cold  indifference  to  the  life  of  charity,  spread 
its  shroud  upon  the  dying  Church.  Death  followed,  and 
the  Last  Judgment  after  death,  but  then  immediately  the 
God  of  Mercy  appeared  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  to  raise  His 
Church  into  a  new  and  everlasting  life.  This  new  Light 
first  appeared  in  the  frozen  North,  but  it  will  lead  the 
Church  Eastward  forever. 

Nebuchadnezzar  ^s  Dream  . 

The  foregoing  life-story  of  Mankind  is  described  in  won- 
derful epitome  in  the  dream  of  the  great  king  of  Babylon, 
recorded  by  Daniel. 

^'Thou,  0  king,  didst  see,  and  heJiold  a  great  image. 
This  great  image,  whose  brightness  was  excellent,  stood 
before  thee;  and  its  aspect  was  terrible. 

"The  head  of  this  image  was  of  fine  gold,  his  breast 
and  arms  were  of  silver,  his  belly  and  his  thighs  were 
of  bra^s. 

"His  legs  were  of  iro7i,  his  feet  part  of  iron  and  part 
of  clay. 

"Whilst  thou  wast  seeing,  a  Stone  was  cut  out,  which 


TEE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS.  15 

w<is  not  cut  hy  hands,  and  it  smote  the  image  upon  its 
feet  of  iron  and  clay,  and  brake  them  to  pieces. 

''Then  were  broken  to  pieces  at  the  same  time  the 
iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the  silver,  and  the  gold;  and 
they  became  as  the  chaff  from  the  threshing  floors  of 
summer,  so  that  the  wind  carried  them  away  and  no 
place  was  found  for  them.  And  the  Stone  which  smote 
the  image  became  a  great  mountain  and  filled  the  whole 
earth. ' '     (  Daniel  2:31-35.) 

The  Golden  Head  of  this  Image  of  the  Ages  represents 
the  first  or  Most  Ancient  Church  upon  this  earth,  a 
Church  which  in  the  letter  of  the  Word  is  called  by  the  col- 
lective name  of  ''Adam,"  In  the  traditions  of  antiquity 
it  is  known  as  the  ' '  Golden  Age, ' '  because  Gold  corresponds 
to  the  love  of  God,  the  supreme  of  human  loves,  which 
reigned  universally  in  that  celestial  age.  The  Breast  and 
Arms  of  Silver  represent  the  second  general  Church,  which 
is  called  the  Ancient  Church, — in  the  Word  signified  by 
"Noah"  and  his  sons.  This  dispensation  is  known  as  the 
"Silver  Age,"  because  Silver  corresponds  to  the  spiritual 
love  of  the  neighbor,  a  noble  love,  second  only  to  the  love 
of  God.  The  breast  and  the  arms  are  the  embracing  abode 
and  instruments  of  this  love. 

The  Belly  and  Thighs  of  Brass  signify  the  third  dis- 
pensation, called  the  Israelitish  Church,  which  is  also 
known  as  the  "Brazen  Age,"  because  Brass  corresponds  to 
natural  good  and  especially  the  good  of  blind  obedience  to 
the  letter  of  the  Law,  which  was  the  only  genuine  good 
among  the  descendants  of  Israel.  As  the  belly  is  the  re- 
ceptacle of  all  food  for  the  body,  and  as  the  superior  body 
rests  upon  the  thighs,  so  all  celestial  and  spiritual  goods  are 
collected  in  natural  good  and  rest  upon  it. 

The  Legs  of  Iron,  and  the  Feet  of  Iron  mingled  with 
Clay,  stand  for  the  fourth  general  church,  called  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  the  "Iron  Age."  Iron  corresponds  to  the 
solid  facts  of  natural  truth,  the  basis  of  all  interior  truths 
and  goods,  and  the  legs  and  feet  correspond  to  the  same. 
To  the  Christian  Church  were  given  the  natural  truths  of 


16  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  and  the  most  fundamental 
of  these  truths  was  the  knowledge  that  the  Creator  of  the 
universe  had  been  bom  a  Man  on  the  earth.  But  the  miry- 
Clay,  of  which  men  make  imitation  stone,  signifies  the  false 
nations  of  human  conceit;  and  the  Feet  of  Iron  mingled 
with  Clay  represent  the  latter  days  of  the  Christian  Church, 
when  the  truths  of  the  Word  w^ere  profaned  by  man-made 
dogmas. 

The  Stone  which  was  not  cut  by  hands,  and  which  smote 
the  image  upon  its  feet  of  iron  and  clay  and  became  a  great 
Mountain  filling  the  whole  earth,  signifies  the  Heavenly 
Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Springing  from  the  In- 
finite Wisdom  of  the  Lord  in  His  Divine  Human,  this  Doc- 
trine was  not  fashioned  by  the  hand  of  man,  but  is  in  it- 
self the  Rock  of  Ages  which  the  builders  had  rejected. 
This  Doctrine  came  at  the  consummation  of  the  Ages  and 
produced  a  Last  Judgment  upon  the  Churches  of  the  past. 
It  will  in  time  be  proclaimed  throughout  the  earth  and 
upon  it  will  be  established  the  fifth  and  cro^Tiing  Church, 
THE  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  which  will  never  pass 
away.  To  this  Church  will  be  given  all  the  genuine  truths 
and  goods  of  all  the  former  Churches.  It  will  rule 
("feed")  the  nations  with  a  sceptre  of  Iron  by  means  of 
true  Science  and  Philosophy.  The  Brass  of  natural  good 
will  be  restored  by  means  of  genuine  ethics  based  upon  love 
truly  conjugial.  The  Silver  of  spiritual  charity  and  the 
Gold  of  celestial  love  will  make  glorious  the  streets  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  heavenly  city  men 
will  again  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life. 

The  Analogy  of  History. 

Throughout  the  four  Churches  of  the  past  there  has  been 
a  notable  repetition  of  analogous  states  and  events,  which 
are  summarized  as  follows  in  the  Coronis,  the  appendix  to 
the  True  Christian  Religion: 

I.  In  each  Church  there  have  been  four  successive  states 
or  periods,  in  the  Word  called  morning,  day,  evening  and 
night.     (Cor.  5.) 


THE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS.  ij 

II.  In  each  Church  there  have  followed  four  changes  of 
state,  of  which  the  first  has  been  the  appearance  of  the  Lord 
Jehovih  and  Redemption,  and  then  its  morning  or  rise-  the 
second  has  been  its  Instruction,  and  then  its  day  or  progres- 
sion; the  tJurd  has  been  its  Decline,  and  then  its  evening  or 
vastation;  the  fourth  has  been  its  End,  and  then  its  night  or 
consummation.     (CoR.  6.) 

III.  After  its  consummation  or  end,  the  Lord  Jehovih 
appears  and  performs  a  Judgment  upon  the  men  of  the 
former  Church,  and  separates  the  good  from  the  evil,  elevat- 
ing the  good  to  Himself  in  Heaven,  and  removing  the  evil 
from  Himself  into  Hell.     (CoE.  10.) 

f  J^'.^**"""  *.^'',*'''  ^""^  '^'^"^'^  establishes  a  new  Heaven 
from  the  good  elevated  to  Himself,  and  a  new  Hell  from 

unl'"^  .ww'^,.*''""  ^'"'''^^'  ^"'i  He  induces  order 
upon  both  that  they  may  stand  under  His  auspices  and 
obedience  to  eternity.     (Cor.  14.) 

.J'  ^"i  °*  *''  ''''^  ^^^''•"^  ^^^  Lord  Jehovah  derives 
and  produces  a  new  Church  upon  the  earth,  which  takes 
plaee  by  means  of  a  Revelation  of  Truths  out  of  His 

?C0R   la)""*       """  ^''"^'  '""^  ""^  '^'''''  ''  Inspiration 

wiln  J^t^J''™^  '^°*'  ""  ^  '^^°'^'  ^^  called  Redemption, 

Tnunf/  "°  f  ?  '""  ^"^  '^'''^'  ''^^^^^  without  it  he 
cannot  be  regenerated.     (Cor.  21.) 

in J.°  *^'''  ^""^''''^  ^^''■'  "^  ^''''^°^  ^^  '^''y  ad*^  tJie  foUow- 

thpTe^V,  J°h  ""*  .^^"'■"'''  ^""'^  ^'^^"^^  ^t«  consummation, 
tho^e  wt  V  ^^^P""-^^  Reformation,  as  a  protection  to 
those  who  could  still  be  saved,  and  as  a  preparation  for  the 
new  (^nurcn  to  come. 

of Thl^fn^""*  oT  ^.^T^  ^""^  '^  "^'^  «"'°'>g  tJ^«  remnant 
of  the  former  Church,  but  in  its  fulness  it  was  established 
among  Gentiles  who  had  not  been  contaminated  with  the 
evils  and  falses  of  the  perverted  Church. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  Analogy  of  History,  we  may  now 
briefly  review  the  successive  states  of  the  four  Churches. 


18  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  Most  Ancient  Church. 

1)  The  rise  or  morning  of  the  Lord's  Most  Ancient 
Church  is  described  in  the  Word  by  the  creation  of  heaven 
and  earth.  The  first  men  created, — the  Preadamites, — had 
"heaven"  implanted  in  their  internal  man,  but  their 
''earth,"  or  external  man,  was  "empty  and  void."  As 
to  all  external  things  they  were  like  infants, — corporeal, 
sensual,  and  ignorant, — and  their  internal  man  could  take 
possession  of  their  external  only  by  successive  degrees  of 
education  and  up-building,  represented  by  the  six  days  of 
Creation,  until  finally  the  state  of  Adam,  or  the  celestial 
man,  was  reached. 

2)  The  noon-day  glory  of  the  Golden  Age  is  described  by 
the  seventh  day  and  by  Adam  and  his  wife  in  the  Garden 
of  Eden.  The  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  was 
their  power  of  Perception,  by  means  of  which  Jehovah  God 
revealed  to  the  celestial  men  all  things  of  love  and  faith. 
Will  and  understanding  were  at  that  time  one  faculty,  and 
the  Word  of  God  was  written,  not  in  a  book,  but  upon  the 
hearts  of  men.  The  Church  on  earth  was  in  open  com- 
munication with  Heaven ;  the  love  of  God,  and  from  it  con- 
jugial  and  fraternal  love,  reigned  supreme,  resulting  in  a 
state  of  innocence,  wisdom,  peace  and  joy,  such  as  have 
never  been  known  since  those  happy  days.  The  tree  of 
the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  also  grew  in  the  garden, 
for  the  celestial  man  was  in  complete  freedom  of  choice 
between  internal  life  and  external  life,  but  refused  to  choose 
the  latter. 

3)  Thus  ages  passed  in  prehistoric  bliss,  until  a  time 
came  when  some  individuals  deliberately  listened  to  the 
voice  of  the  serpent, — ^the  fallacious  appearances  of  the 
senses, — in  preference  to  the  voice  of  Jehovah.  The  idea 
of  self-direction  by  means  of  worldly  knowledge  arose  and 
took  hold  of  a  later  generation,  and  thus  men  fell  from  their 
celestial  state.  The  Garden  of  Eden  was  closed  and  a  state 
of  evening,  decline  and  vastation  set  in  upon  the  Church. 

4)  As  each  succeeding  generation  grew  worse  by  the  ac- 
cumulation of  hereditary  evil,  they  gradually  sank  into  a 


TEE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS. 


19 


<^ 

H 
W 
Eh 

O 

o 


<^ 

<x> 

, 

o 

-^6 

^s 

3^1 

».  o 

O    ®    fe 

^5 

O)   c 

^1 

d- 

1— 1 

«r 

^ 

C3 

CC 

;3 
<1 

c5 

P! 

.  M     ^     g 

s  «= 

s" 

<    « 

H  "^ 

o 

fl:> 

CJ 

-     fcUDOJ 

^ 

pa 

s  05 

H 

H 

g^- 

bio 

C3    o    f3 
O    «2 

o   S   =^ 

^  S 

t~ 

n3 
PI 

1— 1 

1^ 

1! 

;h  o 

us 

^ 

IS 

0 

^ 

<D 

a; 

05 

rfl 

r^         . 

,=3 

a 

5^ 

0)  iiS}'^ 

1 

1: 

«H 

0 

^ 
H 

«  ^ 

e 

§s 

-M 

a 

-s 

•sa 

.■l 

fl 

-(.3         , 

►a"  § 

S  ce 

,a 

*-^ 

cd 

^5 

Q 

'2  o' 

.'H'd 

If 

-4-3 

PI    CS 

(s3  j: 

rCj      J= 

S  o 

-^1 

^O 

03 

H 

H 

EH 

Eh 

H 

20  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

state  of  profanation  by  mingling  celestial  goods  and  truths 
with  sensual  lusts  and  persuasions.  Before  complete  night 
overwhelmed  them  there  was  a  brief  period  of  Reform, 
when  a  generation  known  as  ''Enoch"  undertook  the  work 
of  collecting  and  writing  down  the  traditions  and  doctrines 
of  the  Golden  Age.  The  book,  thus  written,  was  soon  hidden 
away  from  the  destructive  fury  of  the  antediluvian  race, 
which  rushed  headlong  into  such  monstrous  evils  that  they 
were  finally  destroyed  as  by  a  universal  flood.  Through 
their  wicked  life  their  channels  of  internal  respiration  were 
choked  up,  and  as  they  did  not  possess  the  power  of  ex- 
ternal breathing,  thej^  perished  in  the  night  of  the  Judg- 
ment. 

The  Ancient  Church. 

1)  The  rise  and  morning  of  the  second  Church  is  repre- 
sented by  the  salvation  of  Noah  and  his  family  in  the  ark. 
Noah,  w^hose  name  means  ' '  rest, ' '  was  a  generation  of  ante- 
diluvians who  still  possessed  some  remains  of  unperverted 
good  and  truth,  and  with  whom  the  channels  of  external 
respiration  w^ere  opened. 

2)  This  Church  of  the  Silver  Age  existed  at  first  among 
a  few  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  was  afterwards  estab- 
lished among  many  nations  in  Asia  and  Africa,  represented 
by  the  sons  and  descendants  of  Noah.  The  light  of  the 
Ancient  Word  was,  in  fact,  extended  throughout  the  earth, 
for  the  mjrthological  systems  of  all  gentile  races  are  derived 
from  this  common  origin.  The  men  of  this  Church  did  not 
possess  the  celestial  perception  enjoyed  by  the  Golden  Age, 
but  instead  thereof  a  spiritual  conscience  of  truth  was  given 
to  them,  by  means  of  which  they  were  able  to  subdue  the 
evil  inclinations  of  their  native  will.  Hence  charity  and 
wisdom  reigned  among  them,  and  some  still  enjoyed  open 
communication  with  the  angels  of  Heaven.  Religion,  phil- 
osophy and  science  dwelt  peacefully  together,  and  the  sci- 
ence which  they  most  especially  cultivated  was  the  science 
of  the  correspondence  of  all  natural  things  with  their  spirit- 
ual prototypes. 

3)  In  the  course  of  ages  men  began  to  abuse  these  gifts 


TEE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS.  21 

by  applying  them  to  the  service  of  worldly  and  selfish  loves. 
"It  came  to  pass,  as  they  journeyed  from  the  East"  that 
they  desired  to  build  a  tower  of  bricks  in  Babel.  The 
Church  was  invaded  by  the  love  of  ruling  over  the  souls 
of  men  by  means  of  man-made  doctrines.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  priesthood  entered  into  communication  with  evil 
spirits  and  began  to  pervert  the  science  of  correspondences 
by  magical  practices.  Religion  became  esoteric,  and  the 
truths  of  the  Ancient  Word  were  withheld  from  the  com- 
mon people.  Correspondences  were  gradually  forgotten, 
and  men  began  to  worship  as  gods  the  images  which  had 
been  raised  as  symbolic  representations  of  the  various  es- 
sentials and  attributes  of  the  One  God.  Thus  polytheism 
and  idolatry  arose  everywhere  in  the  Ancient  Church;  the 
former  charity  was  lost  in  the  strife  of  contending  heresies 
and  sects;  men  no  longer  ''understood  one  another's 
speech"  in  the  declining  day  of  the  Silver  Age. 

4)  Lest  the  final  judgment  should  be  unduly  hastened, 
a  temporary  Reformation  was  instituted  in  Syria  by  Eber, 
who  established  among  his  descendants  the  Second  Ancient 
or  Hebrew  Church.  The  forgotten  books  of  the  Ancient 
Word  were  restored  and  with  them  the  worship  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  the  practice  of  animal  sacrifices  was  introduced 
in  order  to  keep  the  frenzied  nations  from  sacrificing  hu- 
man beings.  This  reform,  however,  lasted  but  a  few  gen- 
erations; the  Ancient  Word  was  finally  lost,  and  the  light 
of  the  Ancient  Church  was  gradually  extinguished  in  one 
nation  after  another. 


The  Israelitish  Church. 

1)  No  genuine  spiritual  Church  could  now  be  raised  up, 
for  universal  idolatry  reigned  throughout  the  earth.  In 
order  to  establish  at  least  the  semblance  of  a  true  Church, 
Jehovah  therefore  revealed  Himself  to  Abraham  who  chose 
Him  as  the  patron  god  for  himself  and  his  family.  After 
the  release  of  the  Israelites  from  their  captivity  in  Egypt 
the  Church  was  formally  established  among  them  through 
the  revelation  given  to  Moses,  and  the  beginning  of  this 


22  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

new  Hebrew  Word  was  a  portion  of  the  Ancient  Word  in 
Genesis.  The  Israelitish  dispensation  was  a  Church  which 
in  the  most  minute  things  of  its  ritual  represented  a  true 
spiritual  Church,  but  it  was  not  in  itself  a  genuine  Church, 
for  the  Israelites  knew  not  the  meaning  of  their  represen- 
tative worship  and  cared  nothing  for  spiritual  or  celestial 
things.  It  was  a  purely  histrionic  church,  and  the  only 
good  which  kept  the  people  together  as  a  church  and  na- 
tion was  the  good  of  obedience, — blind,  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence to  the  letter  of  the  Law.  As  long  as  they  obeyed, 
it  was  well  with  them ;  as  soon  as  they  doubted  or  disobeyed, 
disaster  overtook  them.  For  the  conjunction  of  Heaven 
with  the  earth  now  depended  upon  mere  forms,  and  if  these 
forms  had  been  perverted  mankind  would  have  perished. 

2)  The  noon-day  and  summer  of  the  Israelitish  Church 
began  with  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  extended  through  the 
reign  of  the  judges,  the  high-priests,  and  the  first  three 
kings,  culminating  in  the  victories  of  David  and  the  glory 
of  Solomon,  when  the  first  great  Temple  was  raised  in 
Jerusalem,  and  the  worship  of  Jehovah  was  fully  estab- 
lished. 

3)  The  decline  of  the  Church  set  in  with  the  division  of 
the  nation  into  two  hostile  kingdoms,  representing  the 
strife  which  always  arises  between  faith  and  charity,  be- 
twen  the  spiritual  and  the  celestial,  when  both  have  been 
perverted  and  separated  from  one  another.  Israel,  or  the 
spiritual  kingdom,  was  finally  carried  away  by  Assyria,  or 
false  reasoning  proceeding  from  the  love  of  the  world ;  and 
Judah,  or  the  celestial  kingdom,  was  carried  away  by  Baby- 
lon, the  love  of  dominion. 

4)  The  vastation  of  the  Jewish  Church  is  represented  by 
the  seventy  years  of  captivity  in  Babylon.  A  temporary 
Keform  took  place  after  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  Jerusa- 
lem under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  The  Law  and  the  Proph- 
ets were  brought  forth  from  their  hiding  places,  and  the 
Jews  became  very  strict  and  orthodox  indeed,  but  the  spirit 
of  prophecy  had  died.  The  people  had  become  a  generation 
of  vipers  and  hypocrites,  who  rushed  from  one  enormity 
to  another,  the  terrible  story  finally  culminating  in  the 


TEE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS.  23 

crucifixion  of  Innocence  Itself.  A  few  years  later  tlie 
Judgment  fell  upon  the  insane  nation  by  the  siege  and  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  and  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews. 

The  Christian  Church. 

1 )  The  rise  and  morning  of  the  fourth  Church  took  place 
in  the  days  when  the  Lord  in  His  Human  preached  His 
Gospel  of  Love  to  the  few  simple  folk  who  alone  were 
willing  to  believe  Him.  He  came  not  at  first  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  children  of  Israel.  After 
the  Ascension  of  the  Lord,  the  remnant  was  quickly  col- 
lected, but  was  soon  compelled  to  leave  forever  the  doomed 
Church  of  the  Jews.  The  Gospel  now  passed  over  to  the 
Gentiles,  and  before  the  age  of  the  apostles  closed  it  had 
been  preached  in  every  part  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

2)  In  the  midst  of  relentless  persecutions  Christianity 
grew  like  a  young  giant,  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was 
the  seed  of  the  Church.  Nor  was  the  growth  merely  ex- 
ternal, for  the  Gospel  of  Love  produced  a  new  charity  and 
a  new  life  among  those  who  received  it,  and  Christian  The- 
ology for  a  time  gave  promise  of  increasing  light.  This 
halcyon  state  of  primitive  Christianity  lasted  about  two 
hundred  years. 

3)  From  the  beginning  the  Christian  Church  had  been 
infested  with  heresies  of  various  kinds,  and  as  the  Church 
grew  the  heresies  increased  in  number  and  virulence  to  the 
detriment  of  the  primitive  charity  and  the  purity  of  doc- 
trine. The  sufferings  of  the  martyrs  created  sympathy  and 
caused  multitudes  to  enter  the  Church  through  persuasion 
rather  than  rational  conviction.  When  the  persecutions 
ceased  and  Christianity  was  established  at  the  imperial 
court,  the  Church  became  the  highway  to  political  influence 
and  power,  and  the  ancient  Roman  love  of  dominion  took 
universal  possession  of  the  Church.  Councils  were  as- 
sembled to  force  dogmas  upon  the  conscience  of  men.  At 
the  first  of  these  general  meetings,  held  at  Nicsea  in  the  year 
325,  the  Godhead  was  divided  into  three  persons,  and  at  the 
seventh  and  last  ecumenical  council,  again  held  at  Nicaea, 


24  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

in  the  year  787,  the  worship  of  images  was  formally  sanc- 
tioned. Thus  tritheism  and  idolatry  were  established 
throughout  the  Christian  Church,  and  the  Dark  Ages  fol- 
lowed, with  the  rule  of  the  Scarlet  Woman  enthroned  in 
the  city  of  the  seven  hills. 

4)  In  the  middle  of  the  night  a  cock-crow  was  heard  in 
Germany,  and  a  Reformation  took  place  in  preparation  for 
the  final  Judgment.  The  Word  of  God  was  liberated 
from  the  prison  house  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but 
as  a  whole  the  Reformation  miscarried.  All  the  false  dog- 
mas of  the  Councils  remained  in  full  force,  and  to  them 
was  added  the  doctrine  of  instantaneous  salvation  by  faith 
alone  without  charity  and  good  works.  Thus  the  sun  of 
charity  was  darkened  and  the  moon  of  faith  no  longer 
gave  its  light.  All  spiritual  life  now  died  in  the  Christian 
Church,  and  finally,  in  the  year  1757,  the  Last  Judgment 
fell  upon  it  in  the  spiritual  world.  The  imaginary  heavens 
of  Christian  hypocrites  were  thrown  down  into  hell  by  the 
Revelation  of  the  Lord  in  the  spiritual  sense  of  His  Word. 
The  simple  good  spirits  who  for  ages  had  been  held  captive 
under  the  altar  were  now  released  and  formed  into  a  New 
Heaven  from  which,  in  time,  a  New  Church  could  be  pro- 
duced upon  the  earth.  The  Old  Christian  Church  still  re- 
mains in  this  world  as  an  external  institution,  but  its  dog- 
mas are  crumbling  and  its  power  broken  forever. 

The  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

The  declining  life-story  of  the  Church  having  been  com- 
pleted, an  everlasting  ascent  has  now  commenced.  A  new 
and  unending  Church  has  dawned,  the  Age  to  which  all  the 
past  Ages  have  looked  forward  as  the  fulfillment  of 
prophecy. 

The  conception  of  this  New  Church  was  effected  by  means 
of  the  Second  Advent  of  the  Lord  in  the  power  and  glory 
of  His  opened  Word.  The  Heavenly  Doctrine  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  was  revealed  in  the  inspired  Writings  of  the 
servant  of  the  Lord,  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  but  its  Ad- 
vent was  perceived  at  first  only  by  a  few  faithful  shepherds 


TRE  SUCCESSIVE  DISPENSATIONS. 


25 


The  Involution  and  Evolution 

OF 

THE  Word. 


?.^ 


■^'^'J^u,utl6^'i^'*■•^' 


26  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

watching  over  their  flocks  in  the  night.  A  few  wise  men 
also  came  to  worship  the  newborn  Light  in  the  Word. 
Gradually  a  few  disciples  were  gathered,  but  as  soon  as  the 
presence  of  the  New  Church  was  perceived  in  the  world  of 
spirits,  the  crew  of  the  Dragon  began  its  assaults.  Per- 
secutions from  without  soon  gave  place  to  more  insidious  at- 
tacks from  within  the  ranks  of  the  New  Church  itself.  All 
the  heresies  and  all  the  evil  forces  from  the  dead  churches 
of  the  past  will  unite  in  the  endeavor  to  devour  the  woman 
with  the  Man  child,  but  their  assaults  will  be  vain,  for  the 
Lord  has  come  in  the  power  of  His  glorified  Human  and 
will  remain  with  His  New  Church  for  ever.  Human  or- 
ganizations in  the  New  Church  may  have  their  rise  and  de- 
cline, but  the  New  Church  itself  will  never  pass  away,  for 
the  Divine  Truth  of  the  Word  has  been  revealed  in  a  form 
so  rational  and  self-evidencing  that  it  can  never  be  extin- 
guished among  men  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear 
and  hearts  to  be  kindled  by  the  fire  of  Divine  Love. 

This  New  Church  will  at  first,  and  perhaps  for  ages, 
remain  among  a  few  in  the  Christian  world,  but  as  these 
few  remain  faithful  to  the  Light,  and  pass  it  on  to  their 
posterity,  the  Church  will  gradually  increase  among  many, 
who  in  each  successive  generation  will  come  into  clearer 
and  purer  light  and  life.  And  in  time  this  Light  will  come 
also  to  those  who  now  are  gentiles,  and  among  them  it  will 
be  established  in  a  fulness  and  glory  of  which  we  as  yet 
can  have  no  conception.  It  will  then  become  on  earth  what 
it  is  in  Heaven. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN. 

Time  was  when  to  doubt  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the 
time-honored  ecclesiastical  theory  of  the  creation  of  the 
world  and  of  the  origin  of  man,  meant  temporal  persecu- 
tion accompanied  with  the  threat  of  eternal  damnation. 
From  this  spiritual  slavery,  which  had  lasted  a  thousand 
years,  mankind  was  set  free,  once  and  forever,  by  the  Last 
Great  Judgment. 

Human  science  then  with  a  mighty  bound  cast  off  the 
shackles  by  which  it  had  been  fettered  since  the  beginning 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  but  at  the  same  time  it  also  cast  away 
faith  in  everything  that  could  not  be  established  by  the  evi- 
dence of  the  senses.  The  ancient  Hebrew  Book,  which  so 
long  had  been  made  to  serve  as  the  prison  house  of  human 
reason,  now  came  to  be  looked  upon  with  distrust,  then  with 
anger  and  hatred.  Its  literal  inspiration  and  Divine  au- 
thority were  rejected  in  the  light  of  the  astounding  dis- 
coveries of  Geology,  Anthropology,  Comparative  Anatomy, 
Biology,  and  all  the  other  new  sciences.  The  biblical  story 
of  creation  in  six  days  by  a  Divine  fiat  was  scoffed  at  as  an 
ancient  Semitic  myth  now  fit  only  for  the  nursery.  The 
universe,  it  was  found,  was  not  ruled  by  any  teleological 
wisdom  of  Divine  Love,  but  by  self-established  Natural 
Laws,  and  as  the  chief  of  these  the  Law  of  Evolution  was 
enthroned  in  the  place  of  a  personal  God. 

The  Theory  of  Evolution. 

Organic  life,  as  well  as  inorganic  substance  and  form, 
was  recognized  as  subject  to  perpetual  change,  variation, 
progress  and  development.  The  idea  of  any  discrete  and 
impassable  degrees  between   the  species  and  genera  and 

27 


28  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

kingdoms  of  nature  was  rejected  in  view  of  the  ever  multi- 
plying discoveries  of  approximations  of  organic  forms.  All 
definite  boundaries  were  broken  down,  and  plants  and  ani- 
mals became  one  in  the  unbroken  chain  of  self-created  and 
self-evolving  biological  phenomena. 

Man,  the  final  and  crowning  link  of  this  chain  of  evolu- 
tion, was  hailed  as  the  most  highly  developed  genus  of  ani- 
mal life.  Far  from  having  been  created  in  a  state  of  hu- 
man perfection,  far  from  having  degenerated  by  a  subse- 
quent general  ''fall,"  mankind  throughout  its  history  had 
experienced  nothing  but  a  continuous  and  triumphant 
march  of  progress  and  ascent.  "When  first  appearing  in 
the  ' '  infallible ' '  Record  of  the  Eocks,  man  had  been  a  sav- 
age of  the  lowest  type,  removed  but  a  step  from  his  im- 
mediate ancestor,  the  "anthropoid  ape"  or  ''Lemurian 
man,"  whose  remains,  unfortunately,  have  not  yet  been 
found,  though  his  reconstructed  image  may  be  seen  in 
papier-mache  in  the  university  museums.  Upward,  ever 
upward,  by  natural  and  sexual  selection  and  the  survival 
of  the  fittest,  from  protoplasmic  cell,  through  slime  and 
mud,  through  all  the  vegetable  forms  and  the  stages  of 
fishes,  reptiles,  birds  and  beasts,  through  Stone  Age,  Bronze 
Age  and  Iron  Age,  the  changeful  amoeba  continued  its  un- 
broken progress.  Not  quite  unbroken,  however !  The  evolu- 
tion was  checked  for  a  time  by  certain  unfortunate  mistakes. 
Somewhere  in  its  progress  the  man-animal  was  seized  with 
a  desire  for  everlasting  life  and  therefore  invented  the  no- 
tion of  existence  after  death;  next  he  created  the  idea  of 
an  infinite  God,  and  finally  some  unscrupulous  God-wor- 
shipper manufactured  an  alleged  Divine  Revelation. 

These  things,  for  some  thousands  of  years,  retarded  the 
natural  evolution  of  the  species,  but  have  now  at  last  been 
removed  by  science,  and  mankind  is  once  more  free  to  re- 
turn to  its  soul-less,  God-less  and  Word-less  animalism. 
Sometime  in  the  future,  perhaps  only  after  countless  asons, 
there  will  evolve  from  the  present  liomo  a  glorious  being  as 
far  superior  to  the  present  man  as  the  latter  is  to  his  tail- 
less simian  ancestor, — unless  universal  race-suicide  or  the 
extinction  of  solar  heat  intervenes. 


TEE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN.  29 

Modem  evolution,  after  all,  is  not  very  far  removed 
from  its  mother,  the  old  orthodoxy.  Like  the  latter  it 
begins  its  story  of  creation  from — nothing.  "Of  the 
causes  which  have  led  to  the  origination  of  living  matter," 
says  Huxley,  its  high  priest,  "it  may  be  said  that  we 
know  absolutely  nothing."  And  with  equal  frankness 
the  evolutionists  admit  that  as  to  the  future  of  the  human 
race  they  know  nothing.  If  they  know  nothing  of  the 
beginning  and  nothing  of  the  end,  we  may  well  ques- 
tion the  infallibility  of  their  knowledge  of  the  intermediate 
steps. 

It  must  be  freely  admitted,  however,  that  the  great  school 
of  Evolutionists,  in  their  enthusiasm  for  the  only  work- 
ing hypothesis  ever  offered  to  them,  has  brought  to  light 
not  only  an  immense  mass  of  valuable  facts,  but  also  many 
apparent  general  truths,  which  on  the  surface  at  least  bear 
a  resemblance  to  the  verities  revealed  to  the  New  Church. 
The  Newchurchman  recognizes  that  the  term  Evolution  is 
synonymous  with  Development,  and  that  the  theory  of  the 
evolution  of  species  and  of  the  animal  descent  of  man  is 
based  on  actual  and  universal  appearances  which  can  be 
explained  only  by  the  Doctrine  of  Series  and  Degrees. 
Swedenborg,  a  hundred  years  before  Darwin,  taught  that 
primeval  man  appeared  like  an  animal  and  lived  like  an 
animal,  but  ivas  not  an  animal  any  more  than  a  creeping 
infant  of  to-day  is  actually  a  beast.  Nor  does  the  New- 
churchman  quarrel  with  the  theory  of  an  original  Stone 
Age,  for  stone  was  undoubtedly  the  most  common  material 
for  human  implements  in  the  days  before  Tubal-Cain  be- 
came the  "instructor  of  every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron." 
(Gen.  4:22).  The  man  of  the  Golden  Age  was  a  Paleo- 
lithic man,  like  his  ancestor,  the  Preadamite,  but  the  use 
of  stone  implements  by  no  means  proves  him  either  an  ani- 
mal or  a  ferocious  savage. 

As  far  as  cranial  measurements  may  be  trusted  to  estab- 
lish intellectual  capacity,  the  most  archaic  skulls  yet  found 
exhibit  the  paleolithic  man  as  a  gentleman  of  remarkable 
intelligence,  as  far  superior  to  the  ape  as  the  average  mod- 
ern European  or  American,  while  his  drawings  on  rock  or 


i^ 


30  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

ivory  prove  him  an  artist  of  no  mean  ability.*  Whether 
the  men  of  the  Old  Stone  Age  were  the  true  primeval  men 
or  not,  the  record  of  the  rocks  by  no  means  establishes  the 
theory  of  his  animal  descent.  This  theory,  moreover,  is 
based  on  so  many  negations,  assumptions,  uncertainties 
and  missing  links,  that  it  is  now  beginning  to  be  doubted 
by  the  foremost  men  of  science.  The  evolutionists  com- 
mitted a  fatal  error  when  admitting  only  the  mute  evi- 
dence of  dead  rocks  and  bones,  while  refusing  to  admit 
not  only  the  witness  of  Divine  Revelation  but  also 
the  testimony  of  man  himself  in  his  own  behalf, — the 
testimony  of  language,  history,  and  universal  human  tradi- 
tion. 

From  its  own  memory,  indeed,  humanity  cannot  pos- 
sibly know  anything  as  to  its  creation  and  earliest  infancy, 
for,  as  with  the  individual  so  with  the  race,  the  memory  of 
beginnings  is  lost  in  the  oblivion  of  unconsciousness.  But 
as  the  individual  remembers  that  which  he  was  told  by  his 
parents,  so  the  race,  as  a  whole,  in  every  corner  of  the  earth 
retains  more  or  less  obscurely  the  memory  of  that  original 
instruction  which  was  once  given  by  the  First  Parent,  the 
Maker  who  alone  is  able  to  reveal  the  manner  of  His  work. 
This  Divine  instruction  is  still  extant,  containing  in  its 
bosom  not  only  infinite  spiritual  verities  as  to  the  in- 
terior creation  of  man, — that  is,  his  regeneration,  but  also  a 
wealth  of  natural  truths  in  regard  to  the  creation  and  ear- 
liest history  of  mankind,  truths  for  ages  forgotten  and  un- 
suspected until  revealed  anew  by  the  Lord  in  His  Second 
Coming. 

In  the  letter  of  the  Word  we  learn  briefly  that  ' '  God  cre- 
ated man  in  His  own  image;  in  the  image  of  God  created 
He  him;  male  and  female  created  He  them."  And  we 
learn  further  that  "Jehovah  God  formed  man,  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life, 
and  man  became  a  living  soul." 


*  On  this  subject  see  the  papers  of  D.  Gath  Whitley  in  the  Prince- 
ton Theological  Eeview,  October,  1906,  and  in  the  Records  of  the 
Past,  1909,  pp.  39,  83. 


TEE  OBIGIN  OF  MAN. 


31 


Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  the  Creation  of  Man. 

On  the  basis  of  this  Divine  instruction  it  was  given  to 
Swedenborg  to  develop  a  doctrine  of  creation,  the  central 
idea  of  which  is  that  of  the  "breath"  of  God,  i.  e.,  the  cre- 
ation of  the  universe  and  of  the  earth  and  of  all  life  upon 
it  hy  means  of  the  atmospheres  proceeding  from  Him  as  the 
Sun  of  the  spiritual  world.  While  we  cannot  enter  here 
upon  a  study  of  the  Doctrine  of  Creation  *  as  a  whole,  we 
note  the  following  general  principles  in  regard  to  the  cre- 
ation of  man. 


A  Diagram  Illustrating  Swedenborg 's  Doctrine  of  Forms  and 

Degrees. 


Forms. 


Divine . . . 
Spiritual . 
Celestial . 
Vortical . 
Spiral. . . 
Circular. . 
Angular . 


Human  degrees. 


God  Man  

Human  Soul   

Intellectual  Mind 

Animus 

External  Sensories  . . . , 
Body  and  blood-vessels. 
Bones    , 


Elem&nts. 


First  Natural  Point 

First  Aura 

Second  Aura  . . 

Ether  

Air   

Water    

Minerals    


Motions. 


Pure  Conatus. 
Animatory. 


Axillary  or  cen- 
tral. 


CJndulatory. 

Local  and  trem- 
ulatory. 


I.  The  human  soul  was  created  by  means  of  a  mem- 
branous precipitation  in  and  out  of  the  buUular  substance 
of  the  universal  atmosphere  of  the  spiritual  world.  Im- 
mediately proceeding  from  the  Infinite  God-Man,  this  su- 
preme aura  in  its  least  elements  conveys  His  finite  image 
and  likeness.  This  alone  is  what  makes  our  soul  human 
and  immortal  and  differentiates  it  from  the  souls  of  ani- 


*  For  a  summary  of  this  Doctrine  see  the  Outlines  of  Sweden- 
borg's  Cosmology,  by  Lillian  G.  Beekman,  Bryn  Athyn,  Pa.,  1907. 


32  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

mals  and  plants,  all  of  which  have  their  inmost  origin  in 
lower  atmospheres. 

II.  This  inmost  vessel  of  human  life  was  further  en- 
closed in  a  series  of  coverings  formed  in  and  out  of  the 
three  successive  atmospheres  of  the  natural  world, — the 
solar  aura,  the  ether,  and  the  air, — providing  the  lower 
planes  upon  which  the  intermediate  degrees  of  the  human 
mind  could  be  built  up  by  subsequent  life  and  education  in 
the  world.  Thus  a  complete  human  seed  was  produced, 
containing  within  itself,  in  potency,  the  whole  human  form 
with  all  its  successive  degrees  and  faculties,  lacking  now 
only  the  ultimate  degree  of  forms. 

III.  This  ultimate  degree  is  the  angular  form,  the  form 
of  rest  and  inertia,  which  could  be  provided  only  by  the 
salts  and  chemicals  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  the  "dust  of 
the  ground."  By  the  infilling  or  insertion  of  such  angular 
particles  into  the  interstices  of  the  spherical  forms  which 
constituted  the  spiritual  and  atmospheric  structure  of  the 
first  human  seed,  these  higher  forms  reached  final  material- 
ization, fixation  and  ultimate  permanence. 

IV.  These  necessary  angular  forms,  held  in  solution  in 
the  waters  of  the  earth,  were  not  as  yet  sufficiently  ac- 
commodated for  their  infilling  service  to  the  human  seed,  or 
to  the  animal  kingdom  as  a  whole.  A  medium  was  needed 
whereby  these  salts  and  chemicals  could  be  properly  re- 
fined, sublimated  and  combined  for  this  supreme  service, 
and  this  medium  was  the  universal  vegetable  kingdom  in 
whose  laboratory,  as  is  known,  the  substances  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  are  prepared  for  the  use  of  animals  and  men. 

V.  This  infilling  mother-service  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom to  the  first  animal  and  human  seeds  could  be  per- 
formed only  ivithin  individual  plants  acting  as  matrices  or 
wombs,  in  which  oviform  matter,  specially  prepared,  could 
receive  and  conceive  the  animated  seeds  begotten  of  the 
atmospheres.  Between  the  vegetable  and  the  animal  king- 
dom there  is  a  complete  correspondence  not  only  in  general 
but  in  particular,  and  thus  in  the  beginning  each  species 
of  plant  served  as  the  matrix  and  nurse  of  a  corresponding 
animal  seed. 


TME  OEIGIN  OF  MAN.  33 

For  the  formation  of  the  supreme  of  animal  bodies,  which 
was  to  contain  the  soul  of  immortal  man,  there  was  created 
a  most  perfect  vegetable  matrix,  a  veritable  Tree  of  Life. 

The  Arboreal  Birth  of  Man. 

Such,  in  brief,  we  understand  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the 
creation  of  man  as  found  in  Swedenborg's  philosophical 
works,  and  this  doctrine  is  supported  by  many  statements 
in  his  later  theological  Writings.  A  poetic  yet  profoundly 
scientific  description  of  the  creation  of  organic  forms  is 
presented  in  his  work  on  The  Worship  and  Love  op  God, 
the  last  in  the  series  of  his  scientific  and  philosophical 
treatises.  It  is  a  summary  of  his  whole  system  of  Cos- 
mology, Physiology  and  Psychology,  and  he  states  con- 
cerning it  that  he  was  told  in  the  spiritual  world  that  "it 
was  a  Divine  book."     (Doc.  II,  p.  209.) 

According  to  this  sublime  prose-poem,  organic  life  be- 
gan upon  the  earth  with  the  creation  of  vegetable  seeds  in 
the  virgin  soil.  From  these  seeds  all  the  subjects  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom  sprang  forth,  first  grasses  and  herbs, 
then  shrubs,  and  finally  trees.  All  these  plants  now  began 
to  swell  with  oviform  substances  which,  in  turn,  became 
pregnant  with  animal  seeds  created  within  them,  and  each 
order  of  plants  gave  birth  to  a  corresponding  order  of  ani- 
mals. From  the  grasses  and  herbs  came  forth  the  insect 
world ;  from  the  shrubs  came  the  birds  of  the  air,  and  from 
the  trees  came  the  beasts  of  the  earth.     The  story  continues : 

' '  But  there  was  still  wanting  that  son  of  the  earth,  or  that 
mind  under  a  human  form,  from  which  the  paradise  of  the 
earth  might  look  into  the  paradise  of  heaven,  and  from  this 
look  again  into  that  of  the  earth,  and  thus  from  a  kind  of 
interior  sight  could  embrace  and  measure  both  together, 
...  a  being  who  from  a  genuine  fountain  of  gladness  and 
love  could  venerate  and  adore  above  everything  the  Be- 
stower  and  Creator."     (W.  L.  G.  30.) 

In  the  midst  of  the  most  temperate  region  of  the  orb 
there  was  a  most  beautiful  grove,  a  paradise  within  a  para- 
dise, "in  the  midst  of  which,  again,  there  was  a  fruit  tree 
3 


34  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

which  bore  a  small  ^gg,  the  most  precious  of  all,  in  which, 
as  a  jewel,  nature  concealed  herself  with  all  her  powers 
and  stores,  to  become  the  initiament  of  a  most  consummate 
body.  This  fruit  tree  hence  was  called  the  Tree  of  Life." 
(n.  32.) 

''Into  this  little  egg,  then,  the  Supreme  Mind  infused 
a  super-celestial  fonn  or  soul,  which  Avas  life  capable  of 
containing  w^hat  is  infinite.  All  things  of  nature  now  joy- 
ously conspired  to  the  birth  of  this  soul  into  the  world.  The 
Tree  of  Life  unfolded  its  branch  into  a  soft  and  easy  womb ; 
the  neighboring  trees  contributed  their  sap  for  its  nutrition, 
and  extended  their  young  shoots  as  arms  to  support  the  bur- 
den of  the  leaf-clad  mother.  All  things  being  ready,  the 
parturient  branch  gently  deposited  its  burden  on  the  couch 
underneath,  and  the  Firstborn  broke  through  the  bonds  of 
his  enclosure."  .  .  . 

''It  was  midnight,  and  the  constellations,  as  in  applause, 
glittered  \\\t\i  increased  brightness  upon  the  first-begotten 
infant,  the  hope  of  the  whole  human  race,  reposing  with  his 
breast  and  face  upwards,  and  his  tender  hands  lifted  to 
Heaven,  moving  also  his  little  lips,  venerating  his  Divine 
parent  with  the  purest  thanksgiving  that  the  workmanship 
of  the  world  was  now  completed  in  himself. ' '     (n.  39. ) 

Our  first  mother  was  created  in  a  similar  manner  from  a 
tree  in  a  neighboring  grove. 

The  story  of  creation,  related  above,  may  seem  on  the 
surface  like  a  playful  allegory,  not  to  be  taken  as  literal 
scientific  truth,  but  the  closer  it  is  studied  in  the  light  of 
universal  principles,  the  more  it  appeals  to  our  reason,  as 
in  harmony  both  with  Divine  Revelation  and  with  the  facts 
of  science.  Swedenborg  does  not  present  his  theory  of  the 
creation  of  man  from  a  tree  as  a  dogma  for  the  New  Church, 
but  as  an  inevitable  conclusion  of  his  whole  cosmological 
system.  In  the  opening  pages  of  his  Adversaria, — written 
immediately  after  the  Worship  and  Love  of  God, — he 
speaks  of  the  latter  as  follows: 

"  In  my  treatise  on  the  Worship  and  Love  of  God,  Part 
I.,  I  treated  of  the  origin  of  the  earth,  the  paradise,  and  the 
nativity  of  Adam,  but  according  to  the  leading  of  the  under- 


THE  OBIGIN  OF  MAN.  35 

standing  and  the  thread  of  reason.  But  since  the  human 
intelligence,  unless  inspired  by  God,  is  by  no  means  to  be 
trusted,  therefore  it  is  necessary  for  the  sake  of  verity  to 
compare  those  things,  which  were  presented  in  the  above 
mentioned  little  treatise,  with  the  things  revealed  in  the 
Sacred  Code.  ..." 

"When,  now,  I  have  sedulously  compared  these  things,  I 
have  been  astonished  at  the  agreement, ' '  but  he  adds  some- 
what cautiously:  "Whether  man  was  formed  immediately 
out  of  the  earth,  and  thus  did  not  run  through  his  ages  from 
infancy  to  youth;  or  whether  he  was  formed  mediately 
from  an  egg,  etc.,  is  left  to  the  faith  of  the  reader.  But 
since  'one  day'  signifies  an  entire  space  of  time,  or  a  cycle 
of  many  years,  he  could  also  have  been  born  from  an  egg, 
and  the  egg  not  immediately  from  the  soil  of  the  earth,  but 
mediately  by  means  of  the  fibres  of  some  vegetable  subject 
or  tree,  by  which  the  essences  which  were  to  pass  over  into 
blood,  could  have  been  rectified.  If  so,  he  would  neverthe- 
less have  been  formed  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  for  what- 
ever runs  through  the  roots  or  fibres  of  vegetables,  is  from 
the  earth."     (nos.  9,  10,  15.) 

The  idea  of  the  creation  of  man  by  means  of  a  tree  may 
seem  novel  as  a  philosophical  proposition,  but  was  by  no 
means  foreign  to  the  conceptions  of  ancient  nations. 

"The  traditions  of  trees  that  brought  forth  human 
beings,  and  of  trees  that  were  in  themselves  partly  human, 
are  current  among  most  of  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  races, 
and  are  also  to  be  found  among  the  Sioux  Indians,"  ob- 
serves Richard  Folkard  in  his  great  work  on  Plant  Lore, 
Legends  and  Lyrics,  p.  117,  and  he  gives  the  following  in- 
stances of  such  traditions: 

"In  one  cosmogony — that  of  the  Iranians — the  first  hu- 
man pair  are  represented  as  having  grown  up  as  a  single 
tree,  the  fingers  or  twigs  of  each  one  being  folded  over  the 
other's  ears,  till  the  time  came  when,  ripe  for  separation, 
they  became  two  sentient  beings,  and  were  infused  by 
Ormuzd  with  distinct  human  souls"  (p.  1). 

"The  Greeks  appear  to  have  cherished  a  tradition  that 
the  first  race  of  men  sprang  from  a  cosmogonic  Ash.    This 


36  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

cloud  Ash  became  personified  in  their  myth  as  a  daughter 
of  Oceanos,  named  Melia,  who  married  the  river-god, 
Inachos  [Noah],  and  gave  birth  to  Phoroneus,  in  whom  the 
Peloponnesian  legend  recognized  the  fire-bringer  and  the 
first  man.  According  to  Hesyclicus,  however,  Phoroneus 
was  not  the  only  mortal  to  whom  the  Mother  Ash  gave 
birth,  for  he  tells  us  distinctly  that  the  race  of  men  was 
'the  fruit  of  the  Ash.'  Hesiod  also  repeats  the  same  fable 
in  a  somewhat  different  guise,  when  he  relates  how  Jove 
created  the  third  or  brazen  race  of  men  out  of  Ash  trees. 
.  .  .  But  besides  the  Ash,  the  Greeks  would  seem  to  have 
regarded  the  Oak  as  a  tree  from  which  the  human  race  had 
sprung,  and  to  have  called  Oak  trees  the  first  mothers. 
This  belief  was  shared  by  the  Romans.  Thus  Virgil  speaks : 
' '  Of  nymphs  and  fawns,  and  savage  men,  who  took 
Their  birth  from  trunks  of  trees  and  stubborn  Oak  ? ' ' 

''Juvenal,  also,  in  his  sixth  satire,  alluding  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  speaks  of  the  human  race  as  formed  of 
clay  or  bom  of  the  opening  Oak,  which  thus  becomes  the 
mystical  mother-tree  of  mankind,  and,  like  a  mother,  sus- 
tained her  offspring  with  food  she  herself  created"  (pp. 
6,  7). 

The  following  is  the  old  Northern  story  of  "Ask  and 
Embla, ' '  the  Ash  and  the  Elm  trees,  as  told  in  the  Eddas  : 

"One  day,  as  the  sons  of  Bor,  [Odhin,  Vili  and  Ve], 
were  walking  along  the  seashore,  they  found  two  stems  of 
wood,  and  out  of  these  they  shaped  a  man  and  a  woman. 
Odhin  infused  into  them  life  and  spirit ;  Vili  endowed  them 
with  reason  and  the  power  of  motion,  and  Ve  gave  them 
speech  and  features,  hearing  and  vision.  The  man  they 
called  Ask,  and  the  woman,  Embla.  From  these  two  de- 
scended the  whole  human  race,  whose  assigned  dwelling  was 
within  Midgard."  (Mallet's  Northern  Antiquities,  p. 
406.) 

The  Home  of  Primeval  Man. 

Whether  one  couple  only,  or  many  simultaneously,  were 
first  created,  cannot  be  ascertained,  nor  whether  autoch- 
thons appeared  in  the  various  parts  of  the  earth,  or  in 


TRE  ORIGIN  OF  MAN.  37 

one  region  only.  As  to  the  original  home  of  man,  the  claims 
of  modern  science  are  divided  between  Western  Europe; 
— the  hunting  ground  of  the  so-called  paleolithic  or  pre- 
glacial  man, — and  an  imaginary  '^Lemuria,"  a  supposed 
sunken  continent  somewhere  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  where 
the  ape  first  lost  its  tail  and  prehensible  feet,  and  devel- 
oped human  teeth  and  a  sense  of  humor. 

Dismissing  as  unproved  these  learned  phantasies,  we  turn 
our  attention  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
as  the  long  established  home  of  the  most  ancient  civiliza- 
tions. The  Old  Stone  Age  people  of  Western  Europe  never 
developed  any  history,  but  Syria,  Chaldea  and  Egypt,  be- 
fore historic  times,  had  gained  a  civilization  to  which  prime- 
Tal  man  could  have  reached  only  after  millenniums  of  steady 
growth.  Here  also  w^e  find  remains  of  an  original  Stone 
Age,  but  far  more  ancient  than  that  of  the  European 
paleolithic  man,  whose  domesticated  animals,  moreover,  are 
all  of  an  unmistakably  oriental  origin.  It  is  a  most  signifi- 
cant fact  that  all  those  inseparable  companions  of  man, — 
the  sheep,  the  cow,  the  horse,  the  dog  and  the  hen, — have 
their  architypes  in  Western  Asia,  as  do  also  all  the  domestic 
grains  and  vegetables  with  the  sole  exception  of  some  mod- 
em American  species,  such  as  the  potato  and  the  maize. 

Everything  points  to  the  fact  that  the  paleolithic  men 
were  more  or  less  ignorant  gentiles,  living  in  the  outskirts 
of  the  contemporary  civilizations.  The  archaic  type  of 
their  geological  surroundings  does  not  prove  their  superior 
antiquity,  for  the  strata  were  not  formed  simultaneously 
aU  over  the  earth.  The  geological  formations,  and  the  flora 
and  fauna,  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand  of  to-day  are  of 
the  type  which  North  America  exhibited  perhaps  a  hun- 
dred thousand  years  ago.  All  geologists  agree  that  Eng- 
land and  Prance  arose  out  of  the  sea  at  a  period  when  the 
Lebanon  mountains  were  hoary  with  age.  Why,  then,  in- 
sist upon  the  paleolithic  Englishman  and  Frenchman  as 
the  true  type  of  primeval  man  ^ 

Climatic  conditions  also  point  to  the  Nile-Euphrates 
region,  and  especially  the  land  of  Canaan,  as  the  one  best 
fitted  for  human  life  in  its  first  infantile  state, — a  sub- 


38  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

tropical  climate  which  would  afford  a  steady  and  moderate 
heat  with  an  abundance  of  vegetable  food.  Instead  of 
being,  like  paleolithic  man,  surrounded  by  the  terrors  of 
encroaching  glaciers  and  ferocious  monsters  such  as  the 
cave-bear,  the  cave-hyena,  the  flying  dragon,  the  sword- 
toothed  tiger,  etc.,  the  primitive  man  in  Larger  Canaan 
lived  in  a  veritable  Paradise,  where  all  things  were  "very 
good,"  as  God  had  made  them.  For  "evil  uses  were  not 
created  by  the  Lord,  but  arose  together  with  hell,"  (D.  L. 
W.  336), — ^thus  after  man  had  fallen  from  his  original  ce- 
lestial state.  Whatever  be  the  antiquity  of  the  Saurian 
monsters  unearthed  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  a 
significant  fact  that  not  the  slightest  trace  of  them  has  been 
found  in  that  region  which  Divine  Revelation  and  human 
tradition  unanimously  describe  as  the  original  home  of  man. 
It  is  in  lands  of  comparatively  recent  formation,  and  in 
them  alone,  that  we  find  the  remains  of  the  gigantic  mon- 
sters which  geologists  claim  as  antedating  man.  They  may, 
indeed,  have  preceded  man  in  those  lands,  but  this  fact, — 
if  a  fact  it  be, — does  not  prove  that  they  preceded  man  in 
Canaan.* 

Purely  geological  speculations  as  to  the  antiquity  of  man 
are  too  uncertain  to  be  of  any  value.  Some  claim  that 
man  first  appeared  some  forty  millions  of  years  ago ;  others 
are  satisfied  with  forty  thousand  years.  Not  the  slightest 
trace  of  human  remains  has  been  found  below  the  strata 
of  the  Tertiary  period,  but  it  is  not  known  when  those  strata 
were  formed  in  the  various  parts  of  the  earth.  The  ques- 
tion is  as  impossible  of  solution  as  it  is  unimportant  to  the 
student  of  humanity,  for  history  and  philosophy  are  inter- 
ested in  the  living  conditions,  and  especially  the  spiritual 
conditions,  of  man,  rather  than  in  the  mere  number  of 
his  years. 


*  For  an  excellent  summary  of  the  long  discussion  on  the  question 
■whether  evil  animals  preceded  man,  see  the  paper  on  ' '  '  Evolution '  or 
'Separate  Creations,'  "  by  George  E,  Holman  in  The  New  Church 
Quarterly,  London,  July,  1911. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  PREADAMITES. 

''The  world  has  hitherto  believed  that  the  creation  of 
heaven  and  earth,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  means 
literally  the  creation  of  the  universe,  and  that  Adam  means 
the  first  man  of  this  earth;  nor  conld  the  world  have  be- 
lieved othenvise,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  spiritual  and 
internal  sense  of  the  Word  has  not  been  disclosed  until 
now."     (CoRONis  23.) 

By  ''the  world"  in  this  statement  is  meant  the  Jewish 
Church  and  the  Christian,  immersed  as  they  have  been  al- 
most from  the  beginning  in  the  shadows  of  the  letter,  but 
to  this  dead  literalism  there  have  been  a  few  notable  ex- 
ceptions among  both  Jewish  and  Christian  writers. 

The  first  one  to  venture  upon  an  allegorical  interpreta- 
tion of  the  story  of  creation  in  Genesis  was  Philo  Jud^us 
who  lived  in  Alexandria  in  the  time  of  the  Lord.  Com- 
bining a  Jewish  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  with 
the  idealistic  doctrines  of  Plato  and  a  notion  of  correspond- 
ences derived  from  Egyptian  sources,  he  came  very  near 
to  the  discovery  of  a  spiritual  sense  in  the  Old  Testament. 

Paradise  to  him  meant  nothing  but  spiritual  perfection, 
(De  Mundi  Opif.,  §  54).  The  trees  that  grew  in  it  are  the 
thoughts  of  the  spiritual  man.  The  fruits  that  they  bore 
are  life  and  knowledge  and  immortality.  The  four  rivers 
flowing  from  one  source  are  the  four  virtues  of  prudence, 
temperance,  courage  and  justice,  each  derived  from  the 
same  source  of  goodness,  which  goeth  forth  from  Eden,  the 
wisdom  of  God  with  man.  The  tree  of  life  signifies  Re- 
ligion, which  alone  bestows  immortal  life  to  the  human  soul. 
(De  Alleg.  I.)  Eden,  which  means  "delight,"  is  a  symbol 
of  the  soul  when  it  sees  that  which  is  right,  exults  in  vir- 
tue, and  prefers  the  supreme  delight — the  worship  of  the 

39 


40  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

One  and  Only  Wise — to  the  myriads  of  men 's  grosser  pleas- 
ures. 

The  allegorical  interpretations  of  Philo  were  revived 
among  the  Christian  Fathers  of  Alexandria,  especially  by 
Clement  and  Origen,  but  this  kindling  light  was  soon  ex- 
tinguished in  the  darkness  brought  on  by  the  controversies 
of  the  ecumenical  councils.  Henceforth  Adam  and  Eve 
were  regarded  as  literally  the  first  human  pair  created, 
nor  was  there  any  doubt  of  this  until  the  year  1655,  when 
Isaac  Le  Peyrere,  a  French  Protestant  writer,  published 
a  work  in  Paris  entitled  Pre^adamit^,  in  which,  from 
Scripture  and  history,  he  labored  to  prove  the  existence 
of  human  beings  previous  to  the  time  of  Adam.  This  was 
the  first  time  the  term  "  Preadamites "  was  used,  and  the 
idea  stirred  up  a  lively  controversy  in  France,  Belgium, 
Holland  and  England.  The  book  was  confiscated  by  the 
Catholic  authorities  and  the  author  was  imprisoned  and 
forced  to  recant  his  "heresy,"  but  the  idea  survived  and 
was  defended  by  a  number  of  writers.  It  is  to  these  latter 
that  Swedenborg  refers  in  the  following  statement  in  the 
True  Christian  Keligion: 

"It  is  believed  by  many  that  by  Adam  and  Eve  in  the 
first  book  of  Moses  are  not  meant  the  men  first  created,  and 
in  proof  they  have  brought  forward  arguments  respecting 
the  Preadamites,  drawn  from  the  computations  and  chro- 
nologies of  certain  Gentile  nations,  and  from  the  words  of 
Cain,  the  first-born  of  Adam,  to  Jehovah;  'A  fugitive  and 
a  wanderer  I  shall  be  on  the  earth,  so  that  whosoever  find- 
eth  me  shall  slay  me. '  Therefore  Jehovah  set  a  sign  upon 
Cain,  lest  any  one  finding  him  should  slay  him.  (Gen.  4  ; 
14,  15.)  Afterwards  Cain  went  forth  from  the  presence 
of  Jehovah,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod,  and  builded  a 
city.  (Gen.  4: 16,  17.)  Consequently  it  is  maintained  that 
the  earth  was  inhabited  before  the  time  of  Adam.  But  by 
Adam  and  his  wife  is  meant  the  Most  Ancient  Church  on 
this  earth."     (T.  C.  R.  466.) 

The  idea  of  "Preadamites,"  therefore,  did  not  originate 
with  Swedenborg,  but  the  idea  of  Adam  being  the  collective 
name  of  a  Most  Ancient  Church,  an  entire  dispensation  or 


THE  PBEADAMITES.  41 

spiritual  civilization,  and  that  the  whole  creative  story  con- 
tains internally  the  account  of  the  establishment  of  this 
Church  through  the  individual  and  racial  regeneration  of 
the  first  men, — this  was  an  entirely  new  conception  which 
was  for  the  first  time  revealed  in  the  opening  chapter  of 
the  Arcana  Ccelestia. 


"Heaven"  or  the  Internal  with  Primeval  Man. 

"  'In  the  beginning  God  created  heaven  and  earth.'  The 
most  ancient  time  is  called  '  the  beginning. '  By  the  proph- 
ets in  various  places  it  is  called  'the  days  of  antiquity'  and 
also  'the  days  of  eternity.'  The  'beginning'  also  involves 
the  first  time  when  man  is  regenerated,  for  he  is  then  bom 
anew  and  receives  life;  hence  regeneration  itself  is  called 
the  new  creation  of  man.  .  .  .  'Heaven'  signifies  the  in- 
ternal man,  and  'earth'  the  external  man  before  regener- 
ation."    (A.  C.  16.) 

Man  is  literally  a  creature  of  heaven  and  earth,  for  his 
soul  or  internal  man  is  actually  formed  out  of  the  very  sub- 
stance of  heaven,  even  as  his  body  or  external  man  is 
formed  out  of  the  materials  of  the  earth.  The  substance  of 
heaven  is  that  universal  spiritual  aura  or  atmosphere  which 
first  proceeds  from  the  Sun  of  Life;  its  constituent  ele- 
mentaries  are  of  a  bullular  form, — inconceivably  minute 
shells  made  up  of  second  finites  passive,  containing  within 
a  small  volume  of  first  finites  in  a  state  of  most  intense 
activity.  Their  animatory  or  pulsating  motion  is  that  of 
good  itself  proceeding  from  the  ardor  of  Divine  Love,  but 
tempered  by  the  enclosing  shells  whose  form  is  that  of  truth 
itself,  because  of  absolute  order,  harmony  and  elasticity. 
By  this  atmosphere  of  good  and  truth  in  corpuscular  form 
the  heat  and  light  of  the  spiritual  Sun  are  accommodated 
to  the  reception  of  angels  and  spirits;  in  this  aura  of  ab- 
solute elasticity  spiritual  beings  can  live  and  breathe  and 
move ;  and  out  of  its  imperishable  substance  the  human  soul 
is  created  and  endowed  with  immortality.  Hence  it  is  that 
"heaven"  with  man, — that  is,  his  soul  or  internal  man, — is 
a  form  of  order  itself. 


42  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

It  is  the  universal  teaching  of  the  Heavenly  Doctrine 
that  ''man  was  created  a  form  of  Divine  Order,  because  he 
was  created  the  image  and  likeness  of  God;  and  because 
God  is  Order  itself,  therefore  man  was  created  the  image 
and  likeness  of  order."  (T.  C.  R.  65.)  And  we  are 
further  taught  that  "God  created  man  from  order,  in  or- 
der, and  into  order."     (T.  C.  R.  71.) 

In  him,  as  the  crowning  work  of  creation,  was  concen- 
trated the  order  of  the  entire  universe, — in  his  soul  or  in- 
ternal man  the  order  of  the  heavens,  and  in  his  body  or 
external  man  the  order  of  the  whole  natural  world. 

''When  man  was  created,  all  things  of  Divine  Order 
were  brought  together  in  him,  so  that  he  became  Divine  Or- 
der in  form,  and  consequently  a  heaven  in  miniature." 
(H.  H.  30.) 

"In  man  the  internal  man  was  formed  after  the  image 
of  heaven,  and  the  external  man  after  the  order  of  the 
world,  and  this  is  why  man,  by  the  ancients,  was  called  a 
microcosm  or  little  world."     (H.  H.  30  Refs.) 

"I  have  been  told  by  the  angels  that  man  was  created 
according  to  the  form  of  the  three  heavens;  and  that  in 
this  way  the  image  of  heaven  has  been  impressed  upon  him, 
so  that  man  is  a  little  heaven  [milx,ro-oiiranos'\  in  the  least 
form ;  and  that  this  is  the  source  of  his  correspondence  with 
the  heavens."     (A.  C.  4041.) 

As  to  his  body  and  physical  faculties,  also,  he  was  cre- 
ated in  and  into  all  that  natural  order  which  is  still  pre- 
served among  the  lower  forms  of  life  which  do  not  possess 
the  power  of  perverting  the  order  of  their  creation. 

"If  man  were  T\athout  hereditary  evil  he  would  be  bom 
into  the  Divine  order  itself,  namely,  into  love  towards  the 
Lord  and  into  love  towards  the  neighbor ;  thus  there  would 
be  implanted  in  him  all  and  single  things  which  are  of 
faith;  even  as  animals,  which  are  bom  into  their  order, 
are  bom  into  the  affections  which  are  natural  to  them,  and 
then  there  are  in  them  all  the  things  which  are  of  their 
life.  But  when  man  turned  against  order,  then  the  case 
was  other^^ise,  indeed."     (S.  D.  Min.  4635.) 

' '  If  man  were  imbued  with  no  hereditary  evil,  the  rational 


TEE  FBEADAMITES.  43 

would  then  be  bom  immediately  from  the  marriage  of  the 
celestial  things  of  the  internal  man  with  his  spiritual  things, 
and  the  faculty  of  knowing  would  be  bom  through  the 
rational,  so  that  on  coming  into  the  world  a  man  would  at 
once  have  in  himself  all  the  faculty  of  reason  and  of  know- 
ing, for  this  would  be  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  in- 
flux, as  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  all  animals  what- 
soever are  bom  into  all  the  faculty  of  knowing  what  is 
necessary  and  helpful  in  securing  food,  safety,  habitation, 
and  procreation,  because  their  nature  is  in  accordance  with 
order.  Why,  then,  is  man  not  born  into  it,  except  for  the 
reason  that  order  has  been  destroyed  in  him,  for  he  alone  is 
bom  into  no  knowledge?"     (A.  C.  1902.) 

"If  man  were  in  the  order  into  which  he  was  created, 
i.  e.,  in  love  towards  the  neighbor  and  in  love  towards  the 
Lord,  he,  above  all  animals,  would  be  bom  not  only  into 
scientifics,  but  also  into  all  spiritual  tmths  and  celestial 
goods,  and  thus  into  all  wisdom  and  intelligence ;  for  he  is 
able  to  think  of  the  Lord  and  to  be  conjoined  with  Him 
through  love,  and  thus  to  be  elevated  to  what  is  Divine  and 
eternal,  which  is  not  possible  to  bmte  animals;  thus  man 
would  then  be  directed  by  no  other  than  the  general  in- 
flux from  the  Lord  through  the  spiritual  world."  (A.  C. 
6323.) 

It  is  to  be  noted  in  these  statements  that  they  do  not 
teach  that  primeval  man  was  created  in  the  full  possession 
of  all  natural  scientifics  and  spiritual  knowledges,  but  that 
he  was  created  with  the  full  and  unobstructed  faculty  or 
ability  to  receive  them  as  soon  as  presented  to  his  external 
senses.  An  animal,  with  its  instinctive  faculty  of  discrimi- 
nation, cannot  be  said  to  'knoiv  a  poisonous  herb  until  it 
meets  it  in  the  field.  Then,  from  the  sphere  of  particles 
surrounding  the  herb,  an  animal  "instinctively"  knows  that 
such  an  herb  is  contrary  to  its  affections  and  thus  harmful, 
while  a  human  being  of  to-day  would  not  know  this  until 
after  painful  experiences.  All  his  senses  and  perceptions 
have  become  blunted  and  perverted  through  hereditary  and 
acquired  evil.  When  born,  a  man  knows  not  even  the  way 
to  the  mother's  breast;  and  his  later  instincts,  until  cor- 


44  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

rected  from  without,  are  all  directed  to  the  doing  of  mis- 
chief to  himself  and  others,  and  he  is  naturally  averse  to 
unselfishness,  obedience  and  every  form  of  order. 

Not  so  primeval  man,  the  unperverted  image  and  like- 
ness of  God.  Although  when  first  awakening  to  conscious- 
ness of  life,  he  was  empty  and  void  of  actual  knowledges, 
there  was  with  him  not  only  a  natural  instinct  or  faculty  of 
discriminating  between  what  would  be  good  or  evil  for  his 
body,  but  also  a  corresponding  spiritual  instinct  as  to  what 
would  be  good  or  evil  for  his  soul.  To  everything  good 
and  true  there  was  an  instantaneous  "Yea,  yea,"  while  to 
anything  evil  and  false  there  was  as  swift  and  unerring  a 
''Nay,  nay." 

Thus  both  as  to  soul  and  as  to  body,  primeval  man  was 
the  epitome  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  medium  by  which 
both  could  be  united  with  their  One  Source.  Within  his 
soul  he  possessed  all  the  virtues  of  heaven,  and  within  his 
body  all  the  powers  of  the  natural  universe. 

"Man  was  so  created  that  the  Divine  things  of  the  Lord 
may  descend  through  him  down  to  the  ultimates  of  nature, 
and  from  the  ultimates  of  nature  may  ascend  to  Him;  so 
that  man  might  be  a  medium  that  unites  the  Divine  with 
the  world  of  nature,  and  the  world  of  nature  with  the 
Divine;  and  that  thus  the  very  ultimate  of  nature  might 
live  from  the  Divine  through  man  as  the  uniting  medium; 
which  would  be  the  case  if  man  had  lived  according  to 
Divine  order."     (A.  C.  3702^) 

"That  man  was  so  created  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
as  to  his  body  he  is  a  little  world,  for  all  the  arcana  of  the 
world  of  nature  are  stored  within  him;  for  every  hidden 
property  there  is  in  the  ether  and  its  modifications  is  stored 
within  the  eye;  and  every  property  in  the  air  is  stored 
within  the  ear ;  and  whatever  invisible  thing  fioats  and  acts 
in  the  air  is  in  the  organ  of  smell  where  it  is  perceived ;  and 
whatever  invisible  thing  there  is  in  waters  and  other  fluids 
is  in  the  organ  of  taste ;  and  the  very  changes  of  state  are 
in  the  sense  of  touch  everywhere  in  the  body;  besides  that 
things  still  more  hidden  would  be  perceived  in  his  interior 
organs,  if  his  life  were  in  accordance  with  order.  ...  In 


THE  PBEADAMITES.  45 

such  a  state  were  the  most  ancient  people,  who  were  celestial 
men."     (A.  C.  3702^) 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  "heaven"  with  them,  the 
state  of  the  internal,  or  soul,  with  man  at  his  first  creation, 
and  such  also  was  the  state  of  his  ' '  earth ' '  or  external  man, 
which  was  formed  from,  out  of,  and  in  correspondence  with 
the  internal  man. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  word  "heaven"  in  Hebrew, 
{shamayim),  is  a  dual  form,  meaning,  literally,  "the  two 
heavens, ' '  and  this  because  of  the  two  faculties  of  will  and 
understanding,  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  the 
Divine  Love  mid  the  Divine  Wisdom. 

With  the  first  man,  however,  as  with  his  Divine  maker 
and  architype,  these  two  faculties  were  one.  While  dis- 
tinct and  distinguishable,  as  substance  and  form,  they  were 
not  separate,  as  after  the  fall,  but  one  as  to  every  endeavor 
and  activity. 

' '  Man  was  so  created  that  the  will  and  the  understanding 
should  constitute  one  mind."     (A.  C.  2231.) 

"From  the  beginning  man  was  so  created  that  his  will 
and  understanding  should  make  a  one,  so  that  he  should 
not  think  one  thing  and  will  another,  nor  will  one  thing 
and  think  another.  Such  is  the  state  with  the  celestial,  and 
such  it  was  in  the  celestial  Church  which  was  called  'Man' 
or  'Adam.'  "     (A.  C.  2930.) 

As  substance  is  the  only  real  thing,  and  form  is  only 
the  outward  determination  and  appearance  of  substance, 
so  the  will — or  the  affection  of  good, — was  with  primitive 
man  the  ruler  of  the  understanding,  while  the  latter  was 
only  the  formal  outward  expression  of  the  will.  This  will 
was  filled  with  nothing  but  love, — the  love  of  God  and  of 
the  neighbor, — and  this  love  ruled  over  the  whole  mind, 
with  nothing  to  oppose  or  obstruct  it.  Created  from  God 
out  of  heaven  (ccelum),  it  was  a  purely  celestial,  i.  e., 
heavenly  mind. 

"The  celestial  are  those  who  are  in  the  affection  of  good 
from  good ;  but  the  spiritual  are  those  who  are  in  the  affec- 
tion of  good  from  truth.  In  the  heginning  all  were  ce- 
lestiaV     (A.  C.  2088.) 


46  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  ''Eaeth"  or  the  External,  with  Primeval  ]VIan. 

"And  the  earth  was  empty  and  void,  and  thick  darkness 
was  upon  the  faces  of  the  abyss." 

As  ''heaven"  was  the  internal  man  or  soul  of  the  first 
begotten  of  the  human  race,  so  "the  earth"  was  his  ex- 
ternal man,  his  body  and  rudimentary  mind.  As  with 
ever^^  man  when  first  born,  so  with  the  Preadamites  this 
rudimentary  mind  was  in  the  beginning  ' '  empty  and  void, ' ' 
— empty  of  good  and  void  of  truth, — before  instruction  had 
begun  to  inform  the  understanding,  and  before  experience 
of  the  Divine  Love  had  awakened  the  affections  of  the 
dormant  will.  It  was  a  period  of  unconsciousness  and 
oblivion,  the  shadows  of  night  covering  an  abyss  of  ignor- 
ance, before  the  breaking  of  the  first  gray  dawn  of  spiritual 
life.  (A.  C.  17,  18.)  This  "abyss"  (tehom)  was  the 
Tiamat  of  the  ancient  Chaldeans,  the  Chaos  of  the  Greeks, 
the  Ginungagap  of  the  Northmen.  In  the  external  man, 
by  itself,  there  is  nothing  of  good  and  of  truth,  except  from 
the  internal  man.  Regeneration  consists  in  bringing  down 
"heaven"  to  the  "earth"  with  man. 

' '  The  reformation  of  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  is  meant  by  the  creation  of  heaven  and  earth.  That 
before  this  there  was  not  any  Church,  because  men  were 
without  good  and  truth,  is  signified  by  'the  earth  being 
empty  and  void;'  and  that  before  they  had  been  in 
dense  ignorance,  and  also  in  falses,  is  signified  by  there 
being  'darkness  upon  the  faces  of  the  abyss.'  "  (A.  E. 
294^) 

These  "falses,"  with  primeval  man,  were  not  falsities 
of  evil,  for,  as  yet,  there  was  no  evil,  but  the  first  fallacious 
conclusions  of  half-awakened  senses,  drawn  from  appear- 
ances, such,  for  instance,  as  the  revolution  of  the  sun  around 
the  earth.  Bom  of  the  earth,  the  external  sense-life  of  the 
Preadamite  by  nature  inclined  to  the  earth,  even  as  his 
internal  man,  bom  of  heaven,  inclined  to  its  own  celestial 
home.  Thus  the  Creator  had  established  a  balance  and  a 
freedom,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  rational  mind — all  along 
the  line  of  its  gradual  development — was  to  exercise  its 


TEE  PBEADAMITES.  47 

royal  prerogative  of  an  absolute  and  unlimited  power  of 
choice  in  spiritual  things. 

* '  The  rise  and  morning  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  is  de- 
scribed by  man  being  made  or  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
because  every  man,  when  first  bom,  and  while  an  infant, 
is  interiorly  an  image  of  God,  for  the  faculty  of  receiving 
and  applying  to  himself  those  things  which  proceed  from 
God  is  implanted  in  him;  and  since  exteriorly  he  is  also 
formed  dust  from  the  earth,  and  hence  there  is  in  him 
an  inclination  to  lick  that  dust,  like  the  serpent,  (Gen. 
3: 14),  therefore  if  he  remains  an  external  or  natural  man, 
and  does  not  become,  at  the  same  time,  an  internal  or 
spiritual  man,  he  destroys  the  image  of  God,  and  puts  on 
the  image  of  the  serpent  which  seduced  Adam."  (Coronis 
25.) 

In  the  exercise  of  their  God-given  power  of  choice  it  was 
possible  for  each  one  of  these  Preadamites  to  self-determine 
the  extent  of  his  spiritual  development.  Each  one  was 
free  to  choose  and  remain  in  a  lower  good,  or  to  pass  on 
to  the  highest  celestial  good.  In  the  beginning  all  were 
equally  infantile,  ignorant,  simple ;  and  some  of  them,  while 
of  their  own  choice  remaining  in  this  state,  were  taken  to 
the  spiritual  world,  to  form  there  the  most  external  parts 
of  the  future  Maximus  Homo, — that  collective  ''Grand 
Man,"  which  is  composed  of  the  entire  human  race  of  the 
past,  now  living  and  working  as  One  Man  in  the  higher 
world.  Swedenborg  thus  describes  his  encounter  with  the 
spirit  of  one  of  these  primitive  men,  (or  of  one  who  was  in 
a  very  similar  state)  : 

"It  was  shown  to  me  of  what  quality  were  the  Preadam- 
ites, who  were  regenerated  by  the  Lord,  and  called  Adam. 

''A  certain  [spirit]  spoke  with  me  with  a  speech  such  as 
was  not  swiftly  distinct  as  is  ordinary  speech,  but  in  words 
in  which  there  was  but  little  of  life ;  thus  it  could  be  heard 
what  kind  of  life  there  was  with  him.  I  also  heard  him 
speaking  when  I  w^oke  up  in  the  night:  he  was  placed  to 
guard  me,  and  said  that  the  evil  ones  wished  to  carry  me 
off ;  I  have  heard  that  such  a  one  is  a  guard,  and  that  he 
is  not  evil,  but  that  he  had  small  residue  of  life :  thus  that 


48  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

he  was  an  external  man,  but  that  still  he  had  internal  things 
in  his  externals,  though  there  was  but  little  of  the  internals. 
Thus  he  was  not  such  an  external  man  as  those  of  our 
own  day,  in  whom  externals  are  separated  from  internals; 
but  with  him  there  were  internal  things  present,  though 
but  little.  This  was  now  manifested  to  me,  and  thence  I 
could  know, — and,  indeed,  from  his  speech, — that  there 
was  but  little  of  interior  life.  It  was  insinuated  or  said 
that  the  Preadamites  were  such,  thus  that  they  were  not 
evil.  It  was  also  insinuated  and  perceived  that  they  then 
had  relation  to  the  hair  of  the  genital  members.  Whether 
this  one  was  a  Preadamite  cannot  be  known,  because  the 
Preadamites  lived  so  many  ages  ago,  and  at  this  day  there 
are  very  many  such;  otherwise  there  would  not  be  cor- 
respondences referring  to  that  [genital]  hair."  (S.  D. 
3389 ;  their  swift  inauguration  to  a  more  internal  life  by 
means  of  a  kind  of  trituration  in  the  other  world,  is  de- 
scribed in  nos.  3390-3399.) 

The  "Grand  Man,"  or  the  whole  of  Heaven  as  one  col- 
lective Man,  is  organized  into  provinces  and  societies  cor- 
responding to  all  the  various  organs  and  organic  functions 
of  the  individual  man.  It  appears  that  the  Preadamites, — 
i.  e.,  those  of  them  who  died  while  in  this  first  and  external 
state  of  spiritual  development, — collectively  perform  a 
function  corresponding  to  use  of  the  hair  which  covers  and 
protects  the  organs  of  reproduction.  While  most  external, 
this  is  a  noble  and  celestial  use, — the  guarding  of  that  upon 
which  depends  not  only  conjugial  love  itself,  but  the  propa- 
gation and  hope  of  the  entire  race.  To  the  first-born  gen- 
eration the  Divine  Generator  gave  no  other  command  and 
no  other  use  than  this:  "Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  fill 
the  earth." 

From  the  very  beginning  He  who  made  man  male  and 
female,  had  implanted  into  the  two  sexes  the  universal  mag- 
netic attraction  toward  one  another,  (C.  L.  46),  for  from 
the  beginning  He  had  created  for  each  masculine  half  of 
the  human  being  a  corresponding  feminine  partner,  from 
eternity  pre-ordained  for  him,  and  to  all  eternity  remaining 
with  him  as,  indeed,  his  ' '  better  half. ' '    Whether  in  the  be- 


TEE  PEEADAMITES.  49 

ginning  there  was  ' '  monogenesis  "  or  ' '  polygenesis, "  {i.  e., 
the  creation  of  one  pair  or  many  couples)  ;  whether,  ac- 
cording to  Plato's  idea  of  the  first  ''androgynous"  man, 
the  two  were  created  in  each  other's  arms,  or,  according 
to  Swedenborg,  borne  by  separate  trees  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden, — still  there  must  have  been  an  instantaneous  mutual 
recognition  by  the  conjugial  pairs,  and  the  conjugial  and 
propagative  impulse  was  the  first  truly  human  affection 
awakened.  Conjugial  love,  which  became  the  crowning 
glory  of  the  Lord's  Most  Ancient  Church,  was  at  the  same 
time  the  most  fundamental  and  ultimate  of  all  human  loves, 
and  the  guardianship  of  this  love  was  given  as  an  eternal 
use  to  the  first-born  infants  of  the  human  race. 

Infants  they  were,  indeed,  though  from  the  first  prob- 
ably of  full-grown  stature,  able  to  move  about  and  to  se- 
lect the  necessities  of  life,  which  an  abounding  nature  every- 
where held  out  to  them.  At  first,  indeed,  they  crept  upon 
the  ground  on  all  fours,  like  every  infant,  but  with  the 
continual  endeavor  to  raise  the  head  and  the  stature  from 
the  ground  towards  heaven: 

"If  man  were  bom  into  the  love  [into  which  he  was  cre- 
ated] ,  he  would  not  be  bom  into  a  thick  darkness  of  ignor- 
ance, as  now  every  man  is  bom,  but  into  a  certain  light  of 
knowledge  and  thence  intelligence  into  which  also  he  would 
quickly  come.  At  first,  indeed,  he  would  creep  like  a 
quadruped,  but  with  an  inherent  endeavor  to  raise  himself 
upon  his  feet ;  for  however  much  like  a  quadruped  still  he 
would  not  turn  his  face  downward  to  the  earth,  but  for- 
ward to  heaven,  and  so  he  would  raise  himself  so  as  also 
to  be  able  to  look  upward."     (D.  P.  275.) 

While  in  this  lowly  estate  they  were  scarcely  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  we  are,  indeed, 
told  that  at  first  they  ' '  lived  as  wild  animals. ' ' : 

''In  the  preceding  chapters  [Gen.  1,  2,  3:1-19]  it  has 
been  treated  of  the  most  ancient  people,  that  they  were 
regenerated;  first,  those  who  lived  as  wild  animals  [qui  sicut 
ferce  vixerunt],  and  who  at  length  became  spiritual  men; 
then  those  who  became  celestial  men,  who  constituted  the 
Most  Ancient  Church."     (A.  C.  286.) 


50  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

However  much  lilie  animals,  they  were  not  animals,  any 
more  than  the  creeping  infant  of  to-day  is  actually  an  ani- 
mal, for  unlike  any  animal  there  is  with  him  the  continual 
endeavor  to  raise  himself  upon  his  feet,  and  to  look  up- 
ward from  the  ground  to  heaven  and  to  an  eternity  of 
progress  and  development.  (T.  C.  R.  417.)  They  lived 
''sicut  feroe,''  indeed,  but  the  word  "fera''  includes  all 
*' living  things"  and  is  not  confined  to  "ferocious 
beasts. ' ' 

The  recollection  of  their  original  beast-like  state  was 
deeply  impressed  upon  the  early  race-memory,  and  in  the 
subsequent  development  of  celestial  innocence  and  humility 
it  became  so  vivid  that  they  actually  referred  to  themselves 
as  nothing  but  animals  in  comparison  with  the  One  Divine 
Man. 

"The  most  ancient  people  knew, — and,  when  they  were 
in  a  state  of  self-humiliation,  also  acknowledged — that  they 
were  nothing  but  beasts  and  wdld  animals,  and  that  they 
were  men  solely  by  virtue  of  that  which  they  had  from  the 
Lord,  and  therefore  they  not  only  likened  to  beasts  and 
birds,  but  also  termed  beasts  and  birds,  whatever  belonged 
to  themselves."     (A.  C.  715.) 

This  humble  acknowledgment  was  gained  especially  by 
a  comparison  of  themselves  with  that  radiant  Being  who 
in  primeval  times  revealed  Himself  to  them  as  the  Divine 
^Man, — the  only  truly  Human  Being  who  is  the  Infinite 
Architype  of  finite  man. 

"To  those  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  with  whom  the 
Lord  spoke  mouth  to  mouth,  the  Lord  appeared  as  a  Man; 
on  this  account  they  called  no  one  'Man,'  except  Him  and 
the  things  which  were  of  Him;  neither  did  they  call  them- 
selves 'men,'  but  only  those  things  in  themselves — such  as 
every  good  of  love  and  every  truth  of  faith — which  they 
perceived  they  had  from  the  Lord.  These  things  they  said 
were  'of  a  man,'  because  they  were  of  the  Lord."  (A.  C. 
49.) 

As  these  Divinely  Human  things  of  the  Lord  were  re- 
ceived by  the  race  on  earth,  the  idea  of  manhood  was  ex- 
tended so  as  to  include  in  a  derivative  sense  those  who  had 


TEE  PBEADAMITES.  51 

become  spiritually  as  well  as  naturally  the  image  and  like- 
ness of  God. 

"That  by  'Man'  is  meant  the  man  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church,  or  the  celestial  man,  was  shown  above;  and,  in- 
deed, that  the  Lord  alone  is  Man,  and  that  from  Him  every 
celestial  man  is  man,  because  His  likeness ;  hence  every  one 
who  was  of  the  Church,  no  matter  who  he  was,  was  called 
'man';  and  at  last  this  name  was  applied  to  every  one  who, 
as  to  the  body,  appeared  as  a  man,  in  order  to  distinguish 
him  from  beasts."     (A.  C.  288.) 

Though  "empty  and  void"  of  actual  good  and  truth,  the 
creeping  animal-like  Preadamite  was  in  no  sense  evil,  either 
by  heredity  or  by  actual  sin,  but  he  was  like  a  fruitful  field, 
bare  as  yet  of  vegetation,  but  filled  with  noble  seeds  sown 
by  the  Divine  husband-man. 

"If  man  were  bom  into  the  love  into  which  he  was 
created,  he  would  not  be  in  any  evil,  nay,  he  would  not  even 
know  what  evil  is,  for  he  who  has  not  been  in  evil,  and 
hence  is  not  in  evil,  cannot  know  what  evil  is;  and  if  he 
were  told  that  this  or  that  is  evil,  he  would  not  believe  that 
such  thing  were  possible.  Such  was  the  state  of  innocence 
in  which  were  Adam  and  Eve,  his  wife;  the  nakedness 
for  which  they  did  not  blush,  signified  that  state.  The 
knowing  of  evil  after  the  fall  is  what  is  meant  by  the  eat- 
ing of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  (D.  P. 
275.) 

Neither  in  the  letter  of  the  Word  nor  in  its  internal 
sense  do  we  find  any  intimation  that  primitive  man  was 
created  in  a  state  of  external  perfection  of  culture.  Even 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden  there  were,  at  first,  no  arts  and 
sciences,  no  garments,  dwellings,  trade  or  literature ;  in  fact, 
scarcely  anything  answering  to  the  modern  ideas  of  "civil- 
ization." The  absence  of  these  things,  however,  does  not 
imply  a  state  of  savagery  or  ferocious  barbarism,  such  as 
modem  science  is  inclined  to  ascribe  to  "paleolithic"  man 
It  will  not  do  to  draw  conclusions  as  to  his  conditions  from 
the  state  of  modem  savages,  for,  according  to  all  ethno- 
logical researches,  the  modern  savage  has  proved  to  be — 
not  a  primitive  man  in  a  state  of  arrested  development — 


52  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

but  a  degenerate  descendant  of  an  original  higher  type.* 
It  is  curious  that  the  evolutionists,  who  always  point  to  the 
history  of  the  individual  as  the  epitome  of  the  race,  should 
persist  in  ascribing  savagery  to  our  racial  Infancy.  "When- 
ever do  we  find  in  a  new-bom  babe — a  savage?  a  cunning 
and  murderous  cannibal?  Why  not  admit,  instead,  that 
primitive  man  was  an  innocent  child  instead  of  a  ferocious 
half-beast?  Paleolithic  man  may,  indeed,  have  been  a 
hunter,  a  killer  and  flesh-eater,  but,  as  has  been  shown  be- 
fore, paleolithic  man  was  by  no  means  the  original  primeval 
man. 

According  to  the  letter  of  the  Word  the  killing  of  ani- 
mals, even  for  sacrificial  worship,  did  not  begin  until  after 
the  fall  of  mankind.  With  abundance  of  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  all  about,  the  infant  race  did  not  "slay  and  eat;" 
there  was  no  need  of  it,  and  the  tender  inclinations  derived 
from  the  Father  of  Mercy  were  utterly  opposed  to  the 
destruction  of  life.  That  the  Preadamite  was  not  a 
flesheater,  Swedenborg  teaches  in  the  Arcana  Ccelestia  n. 
1002: 

' '  The  eating  of  the  flesh  of  animals,  regarded  in  itself,  is 
something  profane,  for  in  the  most  ancient  times  they  never 
ate  the  flesh  of  any  beast  or  bird,  but  only  seeds,  especially 
bread  made  from  wheat,  also  the  fruits  of  trees,  vegetables, 
milk  and  its  various  products,  such  as  butter. 

' '  To  kill  animals  and  eat  their  flesh  was  to  them  a  wicked- 
ness, and  like  wild  beasts.  They  took  from  them  only  serv- 
ice and  use,  as  is  evident  from  Genesis  1 :  29,  30.  But  in 
process  of  time,  when  men  began  to  be  as  fierce  as  wild 
beasts  and  even  fiercer,  they  then,  for  the  first  time,  began 
to  kill  animals  and  eat  their  flesh;  and  because  man's  na- 
ture was  such,  it  was  permitted  him  to  do  this,  and  is  still 
permitted  to  this  day;  and  so  far  as  he  does  it  from  con- 
science, so  far  it  is  lawful  for  him,  since  his  conscience  is 
formed  of  all  that  he  supposes  to  be  true  and  thus  lawful. 

*  The  Australian  aborigines,  for  instance,  had  their  origin  in  the  cul- 
tured races  of  the  Dravidians  of  Southern  India,  as  has  been  proved 
by  Horatio  Hall  in  his  Language  a  Test  of  Mental  Capacity. 
("Transactions  of  the  Eoyal  Society  of  Canada.     Vol.  IX.,  1891.) 


TRE  PBEADAMITES.  53 

No  one,  therefore,  is  at  this  day  condemned  because  of  eat- 
ing flesh. ' ' 

In  concluding  this  account  of  the  external  conditions  of 
primitive  man,  we  take  pleasure  in  quoting  the  following 
noble  words  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll :  ' '  There  is  no  necessary 
connection  between  a  state  of  mere  childhood,  in  respect  to 
knoAvledge,  and  a  state  of  'utter  barbarism, — words  which, 
if  they  have  any  definite  meaning  at  all,  imply  the  lowest 
moral  as  well  as  the  lowest  intellectual  condition.  Con- 
sequently, no  proof — if  proof  there  be — that  primeval  man 
was  ignorant  of  the  industrial  arts,  can  afford  the  smallest 
presumption  that  he  was  also  ignorant  of  duty  or  ignorant 
of  God."     (Primeval  Man,  pp.  132,  133.) 

HoviT ' '  Heaven  ' '  first  came  to  the  ' '  Earth.  ' ' 

Having  described  the  state  both  of  "heaven,"  or  the  in- 
ternal man,  and  of  the  ' '  earth, ' '  or  the  external  man,  as  in 
the  beginning  created  by  God  with  the  first-bom  race,  we 
may  now  proceed  to  describe  briefly  how  heaven  and  earth 
became  one  with  them,  and  the  Church  of  the  Golden  Age 
established  among  men. 

The  purpose  of  God  in  creating  mankind  was  to  estab- 
lish in  this  world  an  earthly  heaven,  as  a  seminary  and 
training  school  for  a  life  of  eternal  bliss  in  the  heaven  of 
the  higher  world.  In  the  beautiful  words  of  the  ancient 
Chaldean  legend:  ^'Iii  order  to  save  them,  He  created  man- 
kind, the  Merciful  One  with  whom  is  the  calling  into  life." 
And  salvation  could  not  be  given  even  to  these  innocent 
first-bom  infants,  except  by  the  process  of  regeneration, 
for,  like  all  their  descendants,  they  were  born  natural,  and 
within  this  natural  man  a  new  man,  a  spiritual  and  celestial 
man,  must  be  bom  again  for  eternal  life.  This  spiritual 
creation  or  regeneration  is  what  is  described  in  the  internal 
sense  of  the  creation  story  in  Genesis. 

In  six  days  God  made  heaven  and  earth,  and — ''six  days 
thou  shalt  labor  and  do  all  thy  work. ' '  The  number  six  in 
this  connection  signifies  spiritual  labor,  the  combat  with 
evil  and  falsity  in  the  trials  and  temptations  which  must 


54  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

precede  the  Sabbath  of  eternal  peace.  With  the  Preadam- 
ites  this  week  of  labor  was  not  a  combat  against  actual  evil 
and  falsity — for  these  did  not  yet  exist — but  a  combat 
against  the  native  tendency  of  the  natural  man  to  gravi- 
tate downwards,  to  live  in  the  senses  alone,  to  seek  the  low- 
est good  instead  of  the  highest.  To  overcome  this  ten- 
dency Divine  instruction  was  necessary,  and  also  various 
vicissitudes,  both  natural  and  spiritual,  resulting  in  a  vasta- 
tion  of  merely  natural  delights.  These,  with  them,  took 
the  place  of  the  temptations  experienced  by  the  later  race 
of  fallen  men.  Their  regeneration,  indeed,  was  an  evolu- 
tion rather  than  a  revolution, — an  unobstructed  leading 
forth  of  the  soul  to  reign  over  its  yielding  natural  king- 
dom; and  not,  as  with  us,  a  desperate  struggle  with  a  re- 
bellious kingdom  in  every  comer  possessed  by  the  devil  and 
his  crew.  Nevertheless,  with  them  as  with  us,  regeneration 
was  a  gradual  process,  represented  by  the  six  successive 
days  of  creation. 

Their  first  awakening  from  the  night  of  thick  darkness 
hovering  upon  the  faces  of  the  abyss,  is  described  in  the 
words:  "And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  faces  of 
the  waters.  And  God  said,  Let  there  he  Light:  and  there 
was  Light/' 

"By  the  Spirit  of  God  is  meant  the  Divine  Mercy  of  the 
Lord,  of  which  it  is  said  that  it  'moves',  as  the  hen  upon  her 
eggs,  and  here  upon  those  things  which  the  Lord  stores 
up  with  man,  and  which  in  the  Word  are  often  termed 
'  remains ' ;  these  are  knowledges  of  truth  and  of  good,  which 
never  come  to  the  light  of  day  until  external  things  have 
been  vastated.  These  knowledges  are  here  called  the  'faces 
of  the  waters.'  "     (A.  C.  19.) 

The  tender  Mercy  of  the  Lord  for  His  finite  images  on 
the  earth  cannot  be  described  in  human  language,  but  a 
faint  suggestion  is  conveyed  in  the  idea  of  mother-love 
hidden  in  the  Hebrew  word  merachafeth,  "moving,"  a  gen- 
tle, almost  imperceptible  but  continuous  motion,  like  that 
of  the  hen  brooding  upon  her  eggs, — the  life-awakening 
motion  of  the  mother's  w^omb.  In  the  Hebrew  the  word  for 
"mercy"  (rechem)  is  the  same  with  the  one  for  "womb." 


TEE  PBEADAMITES.  55 

When  the  first  man  was  created  no  earthly  mother  re- 
ceived him  in  her  arms ;  no  earthly  father  stood  by  to  pro- 
tect and  lead;  no  heaven  of  angels  surrounded  him  with 
the  silent  but  mighty  services  which  all  new-bom  infants 
ever  afterwards  have  enjoyed.  How,  then,  could  they  ex- 
ist, how  were  they  led  and  cared  for?  To  this  question 
Swedenborg  gives  the  following  answer: 

"That  the  Lord  from  the  first  creation  of  man  has  led  the 
human  race. 

' '  There  occurred  this  delicate  doubt :  how  the  first  man, 
and  those  who  were  first  bom,  could  have  existed  before 
the  greatest  body  [of  Heaven]  Avas  formed?  I  brought  a 
confirmed  answer  in  a  spiritual  idea  which  persuaded,  that 
the  first  man  and  those  who  were  first  bom,  were  led  by  no 
one  but  the  Lord  alone ;  for  the  Lord  is  the  all  in  all  things, 
nor  is  there  any  effort  from  the  individuals  in  heaven  and 
in  the  spiritual  world  except  from  the  Lord,  and  this  as 
well  before  man  was  born  as  after  he  was  born,  for  man, 
as  to  all  his  degrees,  existed  similarly  before  his  nativity 
as  after  it.  Without  the  Lord  nothing  could  have  been 
created,  nor  exist  created,  wherefore  also  He  alone  sus- 
tains the  human  race,  as  He  did  of  old.  Now  He  does  this 
by  means  of  angels  and  spirits,  but  then  He  did  it  immedi- 
ately, without  angels  and  spirits.  For  His  human  race  was 
from  the  beginning,  and  for  it  He  has  every  care."  (S.  D. 
2591.) 

In  the  sphere  of  His  essential  Divine  Human,  the  Human 
from  eternity  from  which  is  everything  human  in  heaven 
and  on  earth,  the  Lord  led  His  first-bom  race  immediately 
from  Himself,  appeared  to  them  as  the  Divine  Man  with- 
out the  intermediation  of  angels  or  spirits,  and,  indeed, 
''spoke  with  them  face  to  face."  (A.  C.  49.)  How  this 
was  done,  by  what  veilings  the  Divine  Light  was  accommo- 
dated to  their  tender  eyes,  we  know  not ;  we  only  know  that 
it  took  place,  and  that  there  was  no  other  way  possible. 
When  afterwards  an  angelic  heaven  was  formed  from  the 
spirits  of  departed  men.  He  used  their  ministry  in  His 
revelations  because  they  needed  this  service  and  not  be- 
cause it  was  impossible  for  the  Almighty  to  reveal  Himself. 


56  TRE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

This  first  revelation  of  Himself,  who  from  eternity  was 
the  Light  of  the  world,  was  in  the  supreme  sense  the  Light 
that  dawned  on  the  first  day  of  creation.  And  from  the 
instruction  then  given  there  dawned  at  the  same  time  upon 
the  Preadamite  a  first  recognition  of  his  own  ignorance  and 
weakness,  a  realization  that  he  of  himself  was  nothing,  but 
the  Lord  everything.  Then,  and  then  only,  could  he  be- 
gin his  week's  "labor"  of  regeneration,  each  successive 
"day"  or  state  beginning  in  the  obscuiity  of  an  "evening" 
and  ending  in  the  more  glorious  "morning"  of  a  newer 
and  higher  da5^ 

The  first  step  in  this  new  birth  was  a  "dividing  of  the 
light  from  the  darkness,"  an  ability  to  discriminate  be- 
tween genuine  truths  and  mere  appearances.  Gradually 
the  first  fruits  of  a  spiritual  life  began  to  show  themselves 
upon  the  earth  of  his  external  life, — first  the  tender  herbs 
of  budding  spiritual  thought,  then  nobler  and  more  fruit- 
ful shrubs  and  trees  of  growing  ideas  and  perceptions,  and 
thus  in  time  there  were  formed  in  his  mind  the  two  great 
' '  luminaries ' '  of  charity  and  faith,  for  from  a  natural  man, 
he  had  now  become  a  spiritual  man.  But  still  the  "labor" 
continued,  for  the  celestial  sabbath-day  had  not  yet  been 
reached.  The  preceding  state  had  been  largely  one  of  in- 
tellectual reformation;  now  began  the  regeneration  of  the 
will  through  the  awakening  of  living  affections, — first,  the 
affections  of  knowing,  (the  fishes  of  the  sea),  then  the 
affections  of  truth,  (the  birds  of  the  air),  and,  finally,  the 
affections  of  good,  (the  warm-blooded  beasts  of  the  earth). 

Thus,  "in  the  course  of  time,  by  means  of  instruction, 
experience,  inspiration,  and  revelation,  there  was  given 
them  to  know  all  the  things  which  were  of  faith,  to  which  at 
once  there  was  an  inward  assent,  so  that  they  had  a  percep- 
tion of  these  things  because  they  agreed  with  their  affec- 
tions."    (S.  D.  MiN.  4636.) 

In  this  manner,  from  the  purely  corporeal  and  sensual 
state  in  which  they  had  been  created  as  to  their  external 
man,  they  became  natural-rational  men,  able  to  receive  and 
obey  the  loving  mandates  of  their  Teacher.  From  this 
level  of  obedience  they  rose  to  the  state  of  the  spiritual 


THE  PBEADAMITES.  57 

man  who  obeys  not  only  because  he  has  been  commanded 
by  a  beloved  Master,  but  because  he  himself  is  profoundly 
convinced  of  the  beauty  and  truth  of  the  teaching.  And, 
finally,  from  this  state  of  spiritual  conviction  they  attained 
the  perfection  of  the  celestial  man,— the  only  man  that  is 
truly  human, — who  not  only  loves  the  truth  of  the  Lord's 
words,  but  immediately  perceives  and  loves  the  good  thereof, 
the  supreme  good  which  is  eternal  salvation.  And  thus  the 
Preadamite  became  an  Adam,  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God  in  the  human  rational  mind  which  he  had  built  up  for 
himself,  as  of  himself,  in  freedom  according  to  reason,  by 
submitting  himself  to  the  re-generating  Hand  which  willed 
to  bring  "heaven"  down  to  the  ''earth." 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Adam,  the  Man  of  the  Ground. 

'^And  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished  and  all  the 
host  of  them.  .  .  .  And  Jehovah  God  made  a  mist  to  ascend 
from  the  earth,  and  watered  all  the  faces  of  the  ground. 
And  Jehovah  God  formed  man,  dust  from  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives,  and  inan  be- 
came a  living  soul.''     (Gen.  2:1-7.) 

Gently  as  the  dew  of  the  dawn  in  sprin^ime,  the  tran- 
quillity of  peace  descended  upon  the  regenerated  man  of 
the  Golden  Age  after  the  labors  of  temptation  had  ended 
in  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath.  His  external  man,  formerly 
represented  by  the  general  term  ''earth/'  had  now  become 
a  cultivated  and  fruitful  "ground,"  the  very  ground-work 
of  the  new  celestial  man,  who  from  it,  was  called  Adam. 

Even  as  in  the  Latin  tongue  the  generic  term  for  ''man," 
homo,  is  derived  directly  from  humus,  "ground,"  so  the 
Hebrew  word  adam,  "man,"  is  derived  from  adamah, 
"ground," — ^more  literally,  "reddish  soil,"  for  as  a  verb 
the  word  adam  signifies  "  to  be  red  "  or  "  ruddy. ' '  The  red 
color,  as  is  known  by  universal  perception,  is  the  color  of 
love,  the  color  of  natural  as  well  as  heavenly  fire;  it  is  the 
highest  and  most  active  of  all  colors,  the  color  of  life  itself. 

The  name  Adam,  therefore,  presents  the  idea  of  a  man 
of  the  highest  and  most  active  love — the  love  of  God, — a 
love  filling  his  entire  being  from  the  inmost  soul  to  the 
outermost  body  or  ground.  This  love  is  that  breath  of 
eternal  life,  which  Jehovah  God  breathed  into  the  "nos- 
trils," i.  e.,  the  spiritual  perception,  of  this  His  most  per- 
fect creature ;  and  because  this  highest  human  love  renders 
him  who  receives  it  a  perfect  image  and  likeness  of  the 
Only  True  ]\Ian,  therefore  the  celestial  man  of  the  Golden 

58 


THE  CHUBCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  59 

Age  became  known  in  the  race-memory  by  the  highest, 
noblest,  most  simple  of  all  human  names, — Adam, — Man. 


The  Garden  of  Eden. 

^'And  Jehovah  God  planted  a  garden  from  the  east  in 
Eden,  and  there  He  put  the  man  whom  He  had  formed/' 
(Gen.  2:8.)  A  "garden"  signifies  the  Church  as  to  in- 
telligence and  wisdom,  in  which  the  herbs  represent  natural 
knowledges,  the  shrubs  spiritual  thoughts,  and  the  trees 
celestial  perceptions.  The  name  Eden  in  the  Hebrew 
means  "delight"  and  "loveliness,"  (comp.  the  Greek 
hedone,  "sweetness"),  and  in  the  internal  sense  it  signifies 
celestial  love.  The  "east"  represents  the  Lord.  The 
"garden  of  Eden  from  the  east,"  therefore,  means  the  in- 
telligence of  the  celestial  man,  which  inflows  from  the  Lord 
by  means  of  love.     (A.  C.  98.) 

The  state  of  intelligence  and  wisdom,  of  love  and  inno- 
cence, in  this  celestial  Church,  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
following  general  teachings: 

"The  man  of  the  celestial  Church  was  regenerated  as  to 
the  will,  by  being  imbued  from  infancy  with  the  good  of 
charity ;  and  when  he  had  attained  to  a  perception  of  this, 
he  was  led  into  the  perception  of  love  to  the  Lord,  whereby 
all  the  truths  of  faith  appeared  to  him  in  the  intellect  as 
in  a  mirror.  The  understanding  and  the  will  made  in  him 
a  mind  altogether  one,  for  by  the  things  in  the  understand- 
ing it  was  perceived  what  was  in  the  will.  Herein  con- 
sisted the  integrity  of  that  first '  man '  by  whom  the  celestial 
church  is  signified."     (A.  C.  5113.) 

"On  this  account  the  most  ancient  times  were  more  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Lord  than  the  ages  that  followed.  Inno- 
cence then  reigned,  and  with  innocence,  wisdom.  Every 
one  then  did  what  is  good  from  good,  and  what  is  just  from 
justice.  To  do  what  is  good  and  just  with  a  view  to  self- 
honor  and  gain  was  a  thing  unknown.  They  did  not  then 
speak  anything  but  the  truth;  and  this  not  so  much  from 
truth  as  from  good;  that  is,  not  from  the  understanding 
separate,  but  from  the  will  conjoined  with  it.  .  .  .  And  be- 


60  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

cause  it  never  then  entered  any  one's  mind  to  attack  the 
inheritance  of  another,  and  thereby  to  get  wealth  and 
dominion  for  himself,  therefore  the  love  of  self  and  the  love 
of  the  world  were  at  that  time  far  away,  and  every  one  re- 
joiced at  heart  at  his  own  good,  and  no  less  at  the  good  of 
the  neighbor."     (A.  C.  8118.) 

"The  more  interiorly  celestial  of  the  angels  do  not  al- 
low 'faith'  to  be  mentioned,  nor  anything  whatever  that 
has  a  merely  spiritual  origin;  and  if  it  is  spoken  of  by 
others,  then  instead  of  faith  they  have  a  perception  of  love. 
.  .  .  Still  less  can  they  endure  listening  to  any  reasonings 
about  faith,  and  least  of  all  to  any  mere  scientifics  con- 
cerning it.  For  by  means  of  love  they  have  a  perception 
of  what  is  good  and  true  from  the  Lord;  from  this  per- 
ception they  know  instantly  whether  a  thing  be  so  or  not; 
wherefore  when  anything  is  said  about  faith,  they  answer 
simply  that  it  is  so,  or  that  it  is  not  so,  because  they  per- 
ceive from  the  Lord  how  it  is.  This  is  what  is  meant  by 
the  Lord's  words  in  ^latthew:  'Let  your  communication  be, 
Yea,  yea,  Xay,  nay,  for  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  com- 
eth  of  evil.' ''     (A.  C.  202.) 

The  Tree  of  Lite  and  the  Tree  of  Sciexce. 

"And  Jehovah  God  made  to  grow  out  of  the  ground 
every  tree  desirable  to  heliold,  and  good  for  food;  the  tree 
of  lives,  also,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tree  of 
the  science  of  good  and  evil."     (Gen.  2:9.) 

"A  'tree'  signifies  perception;  a  'tree  desirable  to  behold' 
signifies  the  perception  of  truth;  a  'tree  good  for  food,'  the 
perception  of  good;  the  'tree  of  lives,'  love  and  faith  thence 
derived ;  the  '  tree  of  the  science  of  good  and  evil, '  faith  de- 
rived from  what  is  of  the  senses,  or  of  science."  (A.  C. 
102.) 

The  reason  a  tree  corresponds  to  perception  is  that  the 
whole  vegetable  kingdom  answers  to  the  intellectual  mind, 
just  as  the  whole  animal  kingdom  answers  to  the  will  with 
its  living  affections.  The  highest  subjects  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom  are  trees,  which  perform  the  greatest  uses  and 


TEE  CHUECE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  61 

afford  the  widest  views,  even  as  in  the  intellectual  mind 
perceptions  are  the  inmost  and  most  far-seeing  insights. 

"At  this  day  it  is  unknown  what  perception  is."  (A.  C. 
104.)  Literally  perception  means  a  "catching  through," 
(per-capere) ,  a  quick  taking  of  the  real  meaning  by  pene- 
trating the  veil  of  appearances.  Regarded  in  itself  it  is 
the  flash  of  light  first  seen  in  the  inmost  of  the  mind  when 
the  fire  of  love  descends  from  the  will  into  the  understand- 
ing. With  animals  this  inmost  sensation  is  called  instinct ; 
with  human  beings,  as  now  constituted,  it  is  called  intu- 
ition, which  is  possessed  in  a  greater  degree  by  women,  who 
are  forms  of  affection,  than  with  men,  who  are  forms  of 
thought.  But  neither  men  nor  women  at  this  day  possess 
spiritual  perception,  for  with  both  of  them  the  will  is  per- 
verted and  therefore  intuitively  catches  only  at  falsities 
w^hich  may  excuse  and  confirm  the  evils  of  selfish  and 
worldly  loves.  Through  the  long  and  painful  course  of  in- 
struction, adversity,  and  temptation,  we  may,  indeed,  at- 
tain a  degree  of  conscience,  by  which  we  may  discriminate 
between  good  and  evil,  but  few  if  any  at  this  day  possess 
so  pure  a  love  as  to  render  the  light  of  this  love  a  perfectly 
safe  guide  in  all  things  of  the  spiritual  life.  But  celestial 
love  and  consequent  perception  will  be  restored,  little  by 
little,  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  for  in  that  celestial  city  the  tree 
of  life  will  once  more  yield  its  fruits. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Garden,  as  its  inmost  and  most 
precious  possession,  there  was  a  noble  tree,  the  Tree  of 
Life,  in  which  all  the  men  of  the  Golden  Age  were  the 
branches.  This  Tree,  like  all  the  other  trees,  was  a  per- 
ception, the  supreme  and  inmost  realization  of  the  pres- 
ence of  Jehovah  God  in  their  midst,— a  perception  which 
with  them  was  an  actual  sensation  of  the  Infinite  Love  and 
Mercy.  This  perception  was  their  very  life  and  hence  was 
truly  called  their  Tree  of  Life, — the  mainspring  that  vivi- 
fied all  their  loves  and  thoughts  and  endowed  them  even 
while  on  this  earth  with  all  the  blessedness  of  eternal  life. 
What  this  perception  meant  to  them  can  be  but  faintly  real- 
ized by  us  who  at  the  best  have  only  a  rational  conviction 
of  the  presence  and  guidance  of  the  Lord,  while,  with  them 


62  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

it  was  a  continual  living  experience  of  the  visible  Father 
who  securely  holds  the  hand  of  the  child. 

But  at  the  boundary  of  the  Garden  there  was  another 
tree,  the  tree  of  the  science  of  good  and  evil,  which  had 
been  planted  there  by  God  Himself.  This,  too,  was  a  per- 
ception, the  sensation  of  the  actual  appearance  that  man 
in  all  things  lives  as  it  were  from  himself  and  thinks,  speaks 
and  acts  as  of  liimself,  for  without  this  appearance  man 
would  deem  himself  a  slave  or  an  automaton.  The  men 
of  the  Golden  Age  realized  this  appearance  as  much  as  do 
we  who  ''trust  in  God  but  keep  the  powder  dry,"  but  far 
more  than  we  they  realized  that  this  appearance  is  hut  an 
appearance.  Placed  in  the  equilibrium  between  these  two 
trees  or  perceptions,  the  celestial  men  enjoyed  a  perfect 
freedom  of  choice,  the  freedom  without  which  life  is  not 
human  life,  but  in  this  their  freedom  they  joyously  chose 
the  Tree  of  Life.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  they  realized  the 
presence  of  the  tree  of  science,  but  had  not  yet  been  forbid- 
den to  eat  thereof.  The  forbidding  came  later  when  their 
descendants,  sated  with  the  fruits  of  heaven,  first  began  to 
incline  towards  the  fruits  of  the  world. 

Much  is  involved  in  the  story  of  the  two  trees,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  following  teachings  of  the  Heavenly  Doc- 
trine : 

''To  eat  from  the  Tree  of  Life  is  to  understand  and  be 
wise  from  the  Lord;  and  to  eat  from  the  tree  of  science 
is  to  understand  and  be  wise  from  one's  owti  self."  (C. 
L.  353.) 

"The  Tree  of  Life  signifies  a  man  who  lives  from  God, 
or  God  living  in  the  man;  and  as  love  and  wisdom,  or 
charity  and  faith,  or  good  and  truth,  make  the  life  of  God 
in  man,  these  are  signified  by  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  hence 
the  eternal  life  of  the  man.  .  .  .  But  the  tree  of  science 
signifies  the  man  who  believes  that  he  lives  from  himself 
and  not  from  God;  thus  that  love  and  wisdom,  or  charity 
and  faith,  or  good  and  truth,  are  in  man  from  himself  and 
not  of  God ;  and  he  believes  this  because  he  thinks  and  wills, 
and  speaks  and  acts,  in  all  likeness  and  appearance  as  from 
himself."     (Ibid.) 


TEE  CHUBCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  63 

' '  The  Tree  of  Life  signifies  the  will  of  good,  and  the  tree 
of  science  signifies  the  understanding  of  truth.  The  man 
of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  was  forbidden  to  eat  of  the 
latter,  because  the  regenerated  man  ought  no  longer  to  be 
led  by  means  of  the  understanding  of  truth,  but  by  means 
of  the  will  of  good ;  otherwise  that  which  is  7iew  of  his  life 
perishes."     (A.  C.  8891.) 

' '  It  is  allowable  to  acquire  knowledges  of  all  that  is  true 
and  good  by  means  of  every  perception  from  the  Lord,  but 
not  from  self  and  the  world,  that  is  to  say,  by  searching  into 
the  mysteries  of  faith  by  means  of  sensual  and  scientific 
things,  for  thereby  that  which  is  celestial  dies."  (A.  C. 
126.) 

' '  The  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  were  by  no  means 
forbidden  to  acquire  the  knowledges  of  good  and  evil  from 
heaven  and  from  the  world.  But  they  were  forbidden 
to  view  these  knowledges  by  the  posterior  way,  {a  poste- 
riori), which  is  done  when  conclusions  are  drawn  from  them 
respecting  heavenly  things."     (A.  E.  739.) 

"The  Tree  of  Life  means  the  Lord  as  to  His  Divine 
Providence,  and  the  tree  of  science  means  man  as  to  his  own 
prudence."     (D.  P.  241.) 

In  short,  the  two  trees  represent  the  internal  and  the 
external,  both  of  which  are  necessary  to  every  perfect  state. 
It  is  of  order  to  view  everything  first  from  within,  and  then 
from  without.  It  is  of  disorder  to  view  anything  from 
without,  and  then  speculate  concerning  the  things  within. 
It  is  of  order  to  accept  the  fact  that  of  ourselves  we  know 
nothing,  but  that  the  only  source  of  spiritual  knowledge  is 
the  Lord  in  His  Revelation  as  the  only  true  Teacher.  And 
it  is  of  order  to  confirm  His  teaching  by  our  own  experi- 
ences and  observations.  But  it  is  of  disorder,  and  leading 
only  to  ignorance,  stupidity  and  death,  to  deny  the  pos- 
sibility of  Divine  instruction,  and  to  accept  as  our  only 
guides  our  own  sensations,  experiences,  and  would-be  '*  rea- 
son ' '  and  ' '  science. ' '  For  the  whole  history  of  our  race  bears 
witness  to  this  lesson  of  universal  application:  ''Thought 
from  the  eye  closes  the  understanding,  but  thought  from 
the  understanding  opens  the  eye."     (D.  L.  W.  46.) 


64  TBE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


The  Rivers  of  Eden. 


"And  a  river  went  out  of  Eden,  to  water  the  garden,  and 
from  thence  it  was  parted,  and  was  inio  four  heads/'  (Gen. 
2 :  10.)  ''A  'river  out  of  Eden'  signifies  wisdom  from  love, 
for  'Eden'  is  love;  'to  water  the  garden'  is  to  bestow  in- 
telligence; to  be  'thence  parted  into  four  heads'  is  a  de- 
scription of  intelligence  by  means  of  the  four  rivers."  (A. 
C.  107.) 

The  rivers  of  the  garden  of  Eden  describe  the  general 
state  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  as  to  leading  principles  or 
doctrines,  flowing  from  their  faculty  of  Perception ;  that  is, 
their  knowledges  of  good  and  truth,  their  rational  under- 
standing, their  spiritual  intelligence,  and  their  celestial  wis- 
dom, all  proceeding  from  their  love  of  the  Lord  as  streams 
from  their  fountain.  For  "be  it  known  that  there  is  no 
wisdom  which  is  not  from  love,  thus  from  the  Lord;  nor 
any  intelligence  except  from  faith,  thus  also  from  the  Lord ; 
and  that  there  is  no  good  except  from  love,  thus  from  the 
Lord ;  and  no  truth  except  from  faith,  thus  from  the  Lord. ' ' 
(A.  C.  112.) 

"The  most  ancient  people,  w^hen  comparing  man  to  a 
'garden,'  also  compared  wisdom,  and  the  things  relating 
to  wisdom,  to  'rivers,'  nor  did  they  merely  compare  them, 
but  actually  so  called  them,  for  such  was  their  manner  of 
speaking."     (A.  C.  108.) 

As  water  is  the  universal  correspondent  of  truth,  so  a 
river,  being  an  inflowing  collection  of  waters,  corresponds 
in  the  highest  sense  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord  which  flows 
forth  from  His  mouth.  And  as  the  Word  is  nothing  but 
doctrine  or  Divine  teaching,  so  rivers  correspond  to  lead- 
ing principles  of  doctrine,  flowing  from  the  Word.  These, 
when  received  by  man,  produce  knowledge,  intelligence, 
and  wisdom,  and  therefore  a  river  signifies  "truths  in 
abundance,  which  are  of  service  to  the  rational  man,  thus 
of  service  to  the  understanding  for  doctrine  and  life." 
(A.  H.  683.) 

The  river  which  went  out  of  Eden  is  the  same  "pure 
river  of  the  water  of  life,   clear  as  crystal"  that  flows 


TEE  CHUBCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  65 

through  the  midst  of  Paradise  Regained,  th'^  New  Jerusa- 
lem, with  the  Tree  of  Life  on  either  side  of  the  river;  for 
there  is  but  One  such  river,  the  Word  of  God,  translucent 
from  the  spiritual  and  celestial  senses  within.  In  the 
Most  Ancient  Church,  indeed,  this  Word  of  God  was  not 
written  in  a  book,  but  it  was  written  by  the  finger  of  the 
Creator  upon  the  entire  universe,  and  the  meaning  and  les- 
sons of  this  Word  were  also  written  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
celestial  men.  This  Word  has  been  opened  again  by  the 
Lord  to  His  New  Church  in  the  Heavenly  Doctrine,  which 
is  the  infinite  stream  of  Divine  Wisdom  from  the  Divine 
Love. 

In  a  literal  sense  the  ''four  heads"  or  rivers  of  the  gar- 
den of  Eden  actually  describe  the  boundaries  of  the  land 
of  Canaan  in  its  widest  extent,  for  it  was  here  that  the 
Most  Ancient  Church  flourished.     (A.  C.  567,  4454.) 

"The  name  of  the  first  is  Pishon;  this  is  it  which  com- 
passeth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold;  and 
the  gold  of  that  land  is  good;  there  is  hdellium  and  the 
onyx  stone."     (Gen.  2: 11,  12.) 

The  river  Pishon  has  not  been  identified  with  any  river 
now  existing,  but  the  land  of  Havilah  undoubtedly  refers 
to  a  district  of  northern  Arabia,  to  the  southeast  of  the  land 
of  Canaan.  As  this  land  was  ''compassed"  by  the  Pishon, 
we  may  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  this  river  is  the  same 
as  the  Jordan  in  its  primeval  state,  before  the  Dead  Sea 
had  opened  its  chasm  to  prevent  the  Jordan  waters  from 
flowing  through  their  ancient  channel  into  the  Red  Sea. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  in  the  internal  sense  of  the  Word  the 
river  Pishon  signifies  "the  intelligence  of  the  faith  which 
is  from  love, ' '  for  such  intelligence  is  the  first  derivation  of 
"wisdom  from  love."  The  land  of  Havilah  signifies  the 
intellectual  mind  itself,  stored  with  gold,  bdellium  and 
onyx  stone,  that  is,  with  genuine  good  and  truth.  (A.  C. 
110.) 

The  river  Gihon,  "compassing  the  whole  land  of  Cush," 

signifies  the  cognition  or  spiritual  knowledge  of  all  things 

belonging  to  good  and  truth;   and  the  land  of  Cush,  or 

Ethiopia,  everywhere  in  the  Word  signifies  the  mind  stored 

5 


66  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

with  such  cognitions.  (A.  C.  116.)  This  river,  undoubt- 
edly, is  identical  with  the  Nile,  which  runs  through  Ethiopia 
as  well  as  Egypt.     (See  A.  C.  5196.) 

HiDDEKEL,  "which  gocth  eastward  towards  Asshur,"  is 
clearly  identical  with  the  Tigris,*  and  signifies  "the  clear- 
sightedness of  reason,  while  Asshur,  or  Assyria,  signifies  the 
rational  mind  itself.     (A.  C.  118.) 

Phrath,  the  fourth  river,  is  the  same  as  the  Euphrates, 
and  signifies  the  " scientifics' '  or  natural  knowledges  which 
have  their  home  in  the  external  memory  and  constitute  the 
last  or  most  ultimate  degree  and  boundary  of  the  intel- 
lectual mind.     (A.  C.  120,  9341.) 

The  four  rivers,  therefore,  present  an  outline  map  of  the 
region  where  the  Church  of  the  Golden  Age  was  once  estab- 
lished, and  they  describe  at  the  same  time  a  psychological 
chart  of  the  men  of  that  Church,  in  all  their  mental  de- 
grees and  faculties.  In  this  garden  of  Eden  Jehovah  God 
placed  man  "to  till  it  and  take  care  of  it,"  (Gen.  2:15), 
by  which  is  signified  that  the  celestial  man  was  permitted, 
from  internal  perception  and  wisdom,  to  enjoy  and  culti- 
vate all  the  exterior  faculties  and  degrees  of  the  mind, — 
intelligence,  reason,  cognition  and  science, — but  not  to  re- 
gard these  as  belonging  to  himself,  because  they  are  of  the 
Lord.     (A.  C.  122.) 

Open  Communion  with  Heaven. 

Not  only  did  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  pos- 
sess the  unique  faculty  of  Perception,  by  which  they  in- 
tuitively recognized  the  nature  of  all  things  good  and  true 
as  soon  as  presented  to  them,  but  they  also  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  open  communion  with  the  angels  of  heaven. 

"Man  was  so  created  that,  while  living  on  earth  among 
men,  he  might  at  the  same  time  also  live  in  heaven  among 
the  angels,  and  while  living  in  heaven  among  angels,  at  the 
same  time  also  live  on  earth  among  men ;  so  that  heaven  and 


*  Assyrian  IdiJclat,  (an  arrow) ;  Arabic  Diglat,  Persian  Tegel  and 
Teger,  Greek  Tigris. 


THE  CEUBCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  57 

earth  might  be  together  and  act  as  one,  and  that  men  might 
know  what  is  going  on  in  heaven,  and  the  angels  know 
what  is  going  on  in  the  world;  and  so  that  when  men  de- 
parted from  this  life  they  passed  from  the  Lord's  king- 
dom on  earth  into  the  Lord's  kingdom  in  the  "heavens,  not 
as  into  another  kingdom,  but  as  into  the  same  as  that  in 
which  they  had  been  when  living  in  the  body."  (A.  C 
1880.) 

''Man  was  so  created  by  the  Lord  as  to  be  able  while 
living  in  the  body  to  speak  with  spirits  and  angels,  as  in 
fact  was  done  in  the  most  ancient  times ;  for,  being  a  spirit 
clothed  with  a  body,  he  is  one  with  them.  But  because  in 
the  course  of  time  men  so  immersed  themselves  in  corporeal 
and  worldly  things  as  to  care  almost  nothing  for  aught  be- 
sides, the  way  was  closed."     (A.  C.  69.) 

' '  Such  were  the  ancient  times,  and  therefore  angels  could 
then  have  intercourse  with  men,  and  lead  their  minds  home 
to  heaven  in  a  state  almost  separated  from  bodily  things, 
and  conduct  them  about  [in  heaven],  and  show  them  the 
magnificent  and  blessed  things  there,  and  likewise  communi- 
cate to  them  their  own  happiness  and  delights."  (A.  C. 
8118.) 

This  open  communion  with  the  spiritual  world  was  at 
that  time  a  perfectly  safe  and  orderly  means  of  instruc- 
tion in  things  Divine,  for  there  were  then  no  other  inhabi- 
tants of  the  spiritual  world  but  the  angels  of  heaven.  But 
'after  the  fall  had  taken  place,  after  the  human  will  had  be- 
come corrupted  and  hell  had  come  into  existence,  inter- 
course with  spirits  was  no  longer  safe.  For  ever  since  that 
time  the  spirit  of  the  earth-dweller  is  no  longer  in  heaven 
amongst  the  angels,  nor  indeed  in  hell  amongst  the  devils, 
but  is  kept  unconsciously  in  the  world  of  spirits  inter- 
mediate between  heaven  and  hell.  Heaven  cannot  ap- 
proach him  immediately  on  account  of  the  evil  in  his  will, 
and  hell  cannot  approach  him  immediately  on  account  of 
the  truth  in  his  understanding.  But  in  the  intermediate 
world  he  is  in  a  perfectly  balanced  state  of  freedom,  sur- 
rounded by  a  mixed  company  of  good  and  evil  spirits  who 
have  not  yet  entered  their  final  abodes,  and  who  are  as  un- 


68  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

conscious  of  their  superior  influence  upon  us,  as  we  are  un- 
conscious of  our  own  inferior  influence  upon  them. 

If  any  one  on  earth,  for  unlawful  purposes  and  hj 
magical  means,  dares  to  lift  the  veil  that  separates  the  two 
worlds,  the  spirits  become  conscious  of  the  individual  with 
whom  they  are  present,  and  the  evil  spirits  immediately 
take  advantage  of  their  superior  influence.  Their  malicious 
hatred  and  cunning  arts  are  greater  than  any  man  can 
cope  with,  and  they  know  no  greater  joy  than  to  take  pos- 
session of  his  freedom  and  reason,  in  order  to  destroy  him, 
body  and  soul.  They  love  especially  to  insinuate  them- 
selves into  the  man 's  evil  affections,  flattering  his  pride  and 
conceits, — above  all  his  religious  conceits, — suggesting,  for 
instance,  that  he  is  a  celestial  man  and  that  they  are  angels 
of  heaven.  "When  once  they  have  the  unfortunate  man  in 
their  clutches,  he  can  never  get  rid  of  them,  (except  by  the 
most  severe  repentance),  but  they  haunt  him  day  and  night, 
argue  away  all  his  truths,  destroy  his  faith  in  the  Lord 
and  his  love  for  his  wife,  and  strive  by  might  and  main  to 
make  him  as  insane,  physically,  as  they  are  spiritually. 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  dangers  that  lurk  in  the  path  of 
him  who  at  this  day  ventures  to  cultivate  open  intercourse 
with  spirits.  But  it  is  not  only  fraught  with  supereminent 
perils,  but  it  is  also  utterly  useless  for  any  good  purposes. 
For  evil  spirits  can  instruct  us  only  in  falsities;  and  good 
spirits,  if  asked  for  instruction  respecting  the  other  life, 
answer  with  Abraham:  "If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead."     (Luke  16:31.) 

In  the  New  Church,  above  all  churches,  there  is  no  need 
of  instruction  in  anything  from  any  spirits  or  even  angels, 
for  to  this  Church  there  has  been  given  a  Divine  Revela- 
tion in  which  the  Lord  Himself  instructs  us  openly  con- 
cerning all  the  things  contained  in  Moses  and  the  Prophets 
and  speaks  to  us  plainly  of  His  Kingdom  in  the  other  world, 
in  greater  fulness  than  any  spirit  or  angel  could  ever  know 
or  tell.     "What  better  Instructor  could  be  wanted  or  found  ? 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  this  subject,  because 
Swedenborg's  statements  concerning  communion  with  an- 


TEE  CHUBCE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  59 

gels  in  the  Most  Ancient  Church  have  frequently  been  used 
as  arguments  in  favor  of  Spiritism.  Lest  Swedenborg's 
attitude  towards  the  Pythonism  of  the  present  day  be  mis- 
understood, we  quote  the  following  teachings: 

''To  speak  with  spirits  at  this  day  is  rarely  given,  since 
it  is  dangerous,  for  then  spirits  know  that  they  are  with 
man,  which  otherwise  they  do  not  know;  and  evil  spirits 
are  such  that  they  cherish  a  deadly  hatred  against  man,  and 
desire  nothing  more  than  to  destroy  him  soul  and  body  " 
(H.  H.  249.) 

''By  intercourse  with  spirits  men  are  brought  into  such 
a  condition  as  to  their  souls  that  they  are  speedily  in  dan- 
ger of  their  life,   wherefore   I   would   dissuade   all   from 
cherishing  any  desires  to  speak  with  them."     (Doc   II   p 
232.) 

"To  speak  with  a  spirit  mouth  to  mouth  is  most  dan- 
gerous because  the  spirit  enters  into  the  affection  of  the 
man's  prop  rial  love,  which  does  not  agree  with  the  affection 
of  heavenly  love."     (Doc.  11.  p.  387.) 

"Man  does  not  know  the  quality  of  his  own  affection, 
whether  it  is  good  or  evil,  and  with  what  other  affection  it 
is  conjoined.  And  if  he  is  in  the  pride  of  his  own  intelli- 
gence, the  spirit  favors  every  thought  which  is  thence." 
(A.  E.  1182.) 

With  these  warnings  in  mind,  we  may  now^  return  to  the 
heavenly  communications  of  the  men  of  the  Golden  Age. 

The  Word  in  the  Golden  Age. 

"The  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  had  the  knowl- 
edges of  true  faith  by  means  of  revelations,  for  they  con- 
versed with  the  Lord  and  with  angels,  and  were  also  in- 
structed by  visions  and  dreams  which  were  most  delightful 
and  paradisal  to  them.  They  had  from  the  Lord  continual 
perception,  so  that  when  they  reflected  on  what  was  treas- 
ured up  in  the  memory,  they  instantly  perceived  whether 
it  was  true  and  good,  insomuch  that  when  anything  false 
presented  itself,  they  not  only  avoided  it,  but  even  regarded 
it  with  horror."     (A.  C.  125.) 


70  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

''Revelations  were  made  to  the  man  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  by  means  of  which  he  was  from  his  infancy  initiated 
into  a  perception  of  goods  and  truths,  but  as  those  revela- 
tions were  inseminated  into  his  voluntary  part,  he  without 
new  instruction  perceived  innumerable  things,  so  that 
from  one  general  [principle  or  perception],  he  knew  from 
the  Lord  the  particulars  and  the  singulars  which  now  men 
must  learn  and  thus  know,  and  then  after  all  they  can  know 
scarcely  a  thousandth  part  of  them."     (A.  C.  895.) 

"After  they  had  acquired  a  general  knowledge,  these 
general  leading  principles,  as  we  may  call  them,  were  con- 
firmed by  things  innumerable,  by  means  of  perceptions; 
and  these  innumerable  things  were  the  particulars  or  in- 
dividual things  of  the  general  principles  to  which  they  had 
reference.  Thus  were  the  general  leading  principles  cor- 
roborated day  by  day ;  whatever  was  not  in  agreement  with 
these  they  perceived  to  be  not  so,  and  whatever  was  in 
agreement  they  perceived  to  be  so."     (A.  C.  597.) 

' '  The  men  of  the  ]\Iost  Ancient  Church  had  the  most  de- 
lightful dreams  and  likewise  visions,  and  what  these  signi- 
fied was  at  the  same  time  insinuated  into  their  minds. 
Hence  also  they  had  paradisal  representations.  Thus  the 
objects  of  the  external  senses,  such  as  the  things  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  world,  were  to  them  as  nothing,  nor  did 
they  perceive  anything  of  delight  in  them,  but  only  in  the 
things  which  they  signified  and  represented;  wherefore, 
when  they  beheld  earthly  objects  they  did  not  think  at  all 
about  them,  but  only  about  those  things  which  they  sig- 
nified and  represented,  which  to  them  were  most  delight- 
ful, being  such  things  as  exist  in  heaven,  by  virtue  whereof 
they  beheld  the  Lord  Himself."     (A.  C.  1122,  2179.) 

''The  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  were  indeed 
aware  of  the  external  objects  relating  to  their  bodies  in 
the  world,  but  did  not  care  for  them,  perceiving  in  all  the 
objects  of  sense  something  Divine  and  celestial.  Thus,  for 
instance,  when  looking  upon  any  high  mountain,  they  were 
not  impressed  with  any  idea  of  it  as  a  mountain,  but  with 
a  sense  of  its  height,  and  from  this  they  had  a  perception  of 
heaven  and  of  the  Lord.  ...  It  was  similar  in  other  in- 


TEE  CEUBCH  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  71 

stances;  thus  when  they  recognized  the  presence  of  morn- 
ing, they  had  no  idea  of  it  as  the  beginning  of  day,  but  as 
the  heavenly  morning,  the  day-dawn  in  the  mind;  hence 
the  Lord  was  called  the  Morning,  the  East,  and  the  Day- 
spring.  Whatever  they  saw  with  their  eyes  gave  rise  to 
some  celestial  idea,  and  thus  with  them  all  things,  both  in 
general  and  in  particular,  were  redolent  with  life."  (A.  C. 
920.) 

Such,  then,  were  the  perceptions  of  the  Golden  Age, — the 
trees  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  desirable  of  aspect  and  good 
for  food, — and  these  perceptions,  taken  as  a  whole,  con- 
stituted the  Word  of  God  with  them. 

The  Word  of  the  Lord  has  indeed  existed  with  men  at 
all  times,  for  without  it  there  could  be  no  communication 
between  the  Creator  and  His  human  creatures,  but  this 
Word  has  been  given  in  a  different  form  to  each  succeed- 
ing age.  The  Word  of  the  IMost  Ancient  Church  was  the 
very  essential  Word  itself,  the  sum  substance  of  Divine 
Truth  itself  perceived  within  and  instantly  received  not 
only  by  the  rational  understanding  but  by  the  affections 
of  the  life's  love;  hence  those  men  may  be  called  living 
forms  of  the  Divine  Word.  The  Divine  Truth  was  in- 
scribed upon  their  very  hearts,  and  hence  there  w^as  no  need 
of  any  Word  existing  in  a  written  form.  (A.  C.  1121, 
2896;  A.  E.  617c.) 

The  Word  with  them  consisted  of  ''general  principles  of 
celestial  and  eternal  verities, — principles  such  as  these: 
that  the  Lord  rules  the  universe;  that  all  good  and  truth 
are  from  Him;  that  all  life  is  from  Him;  that  man's 
proprium  is  nothing  but  evil  and  in  itself  dead;  besides 
many  other  truths  of  a  like  nature.  In  all  this  they  re- 
ceived a  perception  from  the  Lord  representing  innumer- 
able things  tending  to  confirm  them  and  to  harmonize  with 
them.  Love,  with  them,  was  the  chief  thing  of  faith,  and 
by  means  of  love  it  was  given  them  of  the  Lord  to  per- 
ceive whatever  had  relation  to  faith,  and  in  consequence 
faith  with  them  was  love."     (A.  C.  597.) 

"The  very  essential  of  the  Word  was  to  them  the  Lord." 
(A.  C.  3432.) 


72  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


Their  Perception  of  God. 


As  has  been  stated  before,  mankind  in  its  primitive  state 
had  no  other  idea  of  God  than  that  of  a  Divine  Man,  for 
from  the  beginning  He  had  revealed  Himself  in  no  other 
form  than  as  the  Divine  Prototype  of  those  who  were  cre- 
ated in  His  finite  image  and  likeness.  At  first, — before  as 
yet  there  was  a  heaven  of  angels, — He  revealed  Himself  in 
and  through  the  sphere  of  His  own  proceeding  Divine, 
which,  being  the  sphere  of  the  Divine  Man,  was  in  itself 
a  Divinely  Human  sphere.  As  the  Divine  Man,  therefore, 
He  revealed  Himself  to  the  first-born  men  and  as  such  spoke 
to  them  face  to  face.  (A.  C.  49.)  And  afterwards,  when 
a  heaven  of  angels  began  to  be  formed,  His  Divine  sphere 
filled  this  heaven,  and,  passing  through  heaven  as  through 
a  collective  greatest  Man,  continually  brought  back  to  the 
men  on  earth  the  perception  and  image  of  the  Divine  Man. 
And  besides  this  general  perception,  they  enjoyed  also  an 
actual  individualized  and  objective  vision  of  Him  as  a  Man, 
for  whenever  a  Divine  revelation  was  to  be  communicated 
to  His  children  on  the  earth.  He  filled  some  one  angel  with 
His  presence, — for  the  time  being  putting  to  sleep  the  con- 
sciousness of  that  angel  whose  human  form  He  had  bor- 
rowed,— and  thus  spoke  through  the  mouth  of  this  angel 
who  was  then  transfused  with  Divine  radiance.  Thus  it 
was  that  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  worshipped 
as  the  Divine  Man  the  Infinite  Existere  in  which  is  the  In- 
finite Esse.     (A.  C.  3061,  4687.) 

And  this  perception  and  vision  of  God  as  Man  as  to  His 
Divine  Celestial  and  His  Divine  Spiritual, — that  is  as  to 
His  Divine  Love  and  Divine  Wisdom, — would  have  been 
sufiicient  to  all  eternity  for  all  purposes  of  human  progress 
and  salvation,  if  mankind  had  remained  in  its  pristine 
perfection;  for  we  are  distinctly  instructed  that  ''if  the 
Most  Ancient  Church  had  remained  in  its  integrity,  the 
Lord  would  have  had  no  need  to  he  horn  a  man."  (A.  C. 
2661.)  For  to  those  who  are  spiritual  and  celestial  a  spirit- 
ual and  celestial  revelation  is  sufficient,  but  when  mankind 
by  the  great  downfall  had  lost  its  heavenly  birthright  and 


THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  73 

became  natural,  sensual,  and  corporeal,  the  Divine  Father 
in  His  mercy  descended  even  unto  their  own  lowest  plane 
and  veiled  His  Divine  Soul  in  a  natural,  sensual  and  cor- 
poreal human  assumed  from  a  virgin.  This  human  nature 
He  infilled  with  the  Divine  on  every  plane ;  so  that  at  tliis 
day  there  is  no  man  so  deeply  sunk  in  gross  sensualism  but 
that  the  Divine  mercy  is  there  with  him  in  his  depth,  speak- 
ing to  him  in  a  human  language  that  even  he  can  under- 
stand, and  thus,  if  willing,  can  be  saved  for  heaven. 

By  coming  into  the  world,  therefore.  He  took  unto  Him- 
self a  more  complete  power  than  that  which  He  exercised 
among  the  children  of  His  unfallen  race,  and  on  this  ac- 
count the  Suq.  of  Righteousness  now  shines  as  "the  light 
of  seven  days,"  because  it  now^  reflects  His  own  natural 
image.  And  now  that  He  has  come  again  in  that  Human 
which  He  glorified, — now  that  He  has  revealed  Himself 
as  Divine  Rational  Truth  adapted  to  every  plane  of  human 
comprehension, — He  has  thereby  established  a  Church 
which  is  to  be  the  Crown  of  all  the  Churches  that  have  ex- 
isted since  the  beginning  of  the  world.  For  to  no  other 
Church  but  the  New  Church,  the  Church  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem, has  He  revealed  His  own  Human,  His  own  Divine- 
Rational  Human. 

And  by  virtue  of  this  Revelation,  now  given  in  the  Heav- 
enly Doctrine  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  New  Church  of 
the  future  will  become  even  more  perfect  *  than  the  Church 
of  the  Golden  Age,  for, — speaking  of  the  Race-man  as  a 
whole, — their  innocence  was  an  innocence  of  childhood,  an 
innocence  of  blissful  ignorance  which  should  never  have 
been  disturbed.  But  since  it  was  disturbed,  the  Lord  in 
His  infinite  Mercy  and  Wisdom  has  turned  even  this  most 
lamentable  evil  into  the  highest  good.  For,  with  the 
whole  bitter  lesson  of  human  history  as  a  background,  and 
with  the  voice  of  the  visible  Lord  guiding  us  forward,  the 
men  of  His  New  Church  can  in  time  enter  into  a  new  and 
more  internal  celestial  state,  an  innocence  of  wisdom,  an  age 
of  gold  "well  refined." 

*  See  T.  C.  K.  787  and  Invitation  to  the  New  Church,  n.  52. 


CHAPTER  y. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  CHARACTERISTICS  OF 
PRIMEVAL  MAN. 

The  Brain  of  the  Celestial  Man. 

The  people  of  the  Golden  Age  differed  from  the  men  of 
subsequent  ages  not  only  as  to  the  internal  and  spiritual 
qualities  described  above,  but  also  as  to  a  number  of  physi- 
ological characteristics,  corresponding  to  their  distinctive 
psychological  qualities.  This  difference  as  to  bodily  con- 
ditions depended  chiefly  upon  the  singular  operation  of 
the  primeval  human  brain. 

The  subjects  which  we  now  approach  do  not  easily  fall 
within  the  comprehension  of  modern  man,  owing  to  his 
gross  ignorance  of  the  interior  faculties  of  the  soul  as  well 
as  of  the  body.  In  order  to  gain  even  a  remote  conception 
of  these  things,  it  is  necessary  to  introduce  here  some  gen- 
eral teachings  of  the  psychology  and  physiology  revealed 
in  the  Writings  of  the  New  Church. 

I.  As  to  the  two  Ijrains,  and  their  relation  to  the  ivill  and 
the  und  erst  abiding. 

''As  all  the  things  of  the  mind  relate  to  the  will  a^nd  the 
understanding,  therefore  there  are  two.  brains  in  the  head, 
which  are  as  distinct  from  each  other  as  are  the  will  and 
the  understanding;  the  cerebellum  is  especially  for  the 
will,  and  the  cerebrum  for  the  understanding."  (D.  L.  W. 
384.) 

"Beneath  the  forehead  is  the  cerebrum,  and  beneath  the 
occiput  is  the  cerebellum;  the  latter  is  dedicated  to  love 
and  its  goods;  the  former  to  wisdom  and  its  understand- 
ing."    (C.  L.  444.) 

"All  good  is  received  behind,  and  truth  in  front,  for  the 
cerebellum  is  formed  to  receive  the  good  which  is  of  the 
will,  and  the  cerebrum  is  formed  to  receive  the  truth  which 
is  of  the  understanding."     (A.  E.  316.) 

74 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CHABACTEEISTIC8.  75 

II.  As  to  the  Voluntanj  and  the  Involuntary  functions. 
It  is  to  be  observed  tbat  the  cerebellum  is  the  organ  of 
the  Divine  Will  rather  than  of  our  own  self-will,  for  'Hhe 
Divine  influx  into  the  will  is  into  the  occiput,  because  into 
the  cerebellum;  and  thence  it  goes  towards  the  front 
parts  in  the  cerebrum  where  is  the  understanding." 
(A.  E.  61.) 

The  cerebellum,  therefore,  is  a  sanctuary  reserved  by  the 
Creator  for  His  own  undisturbed  operation  in  man,— an 
organ  over  which  the  self-will  of  man  has  no  control,— and 
on  this  account  the  whole  life-function  which  depends  upon 
the  cerebellum  is  called  the  involuntary  function. 

But  the  cerebrum,  which  receives  all  the  sensory  nerves 
and  all  the  sense-impressions,  is  the  seat  of  the  conscious 
mind  or  spirit.  It  is  here  that  the  life,  inflowing  from  the 
cerebellum,  first  becomes  conscious  of  its  own  individualized 
existence  in  the  man.  The  general  will  of  the  cerebellum 
here  becomes  a  particular  will  which  feels  its  freedom  of 
life  and  power  of  self -direction,  and  hence  that  whole  life- 
function  which  resides  in  and  depends  upon  the  cerebrum 
is  called  the  voluntary  function. 

' '  Sense  in  general,  or  general  sense,  is  distinguished  into 
voluntary  and  involuntary.  Voluntary  sense  is  proper  to 
the  cerebrum,  but  involuntary  sense  is  proper  to  the  cere- 
bellum. In  human  beings  these  two  kinds  of  general  sense 
are  conjoined  but  yet  distinct.  The  fibres  which  flow  forth 
from  the  cerebrum  present  the  voluntary  sense  in  general, 
and  the  fibres  which  flow  from  the  cerebellum  present  the 
involuntary  sense  in  general.  The  fibres  of  this  double 
origin  conjoin  themselves  together  in  the  two  appendices 
which  are  called  the  medulla  oblongata  and  the  medulla 
spinalis,  and  through  these  pass  into  the  body  and  shape 
its  members,  viscera,  and  organs.  The  parts  which  encom- 
pass the  body,  such  as  the  muscles  and  the  skin,  and  also 
the  organs  of  the  senses,  for  the  most  part  receive  fibres  from 
the  cerebrum ;  and  hence  man  has  sense  and  motion  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  will.  But  the  parts  within  this  compass, 
which  are  called  the  viscera  of  the  body,  receive  fibres  from 
the  cerebellum,  and  consequently  man  has  no  sensation  of 


76  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

these  parts,  nor  are  they  under  the  control  of  his  will.'* 
(A.  C.  4325.) 

''Hence  it  is  that  the  motion  of  the  heart,  which  is  in- 
voluntary, is  altogether  taken  away  from  the  [conscious] 
will;  it  is  the  same  with  the  action  of  the  cerebellum;  and 
the  motions  of  the  heart  and  the  forces  [nerves]  of  the  cere- 
bellum rule  the  voluntary  things,  lest  these  should  rush 
beyond  bounds  and  extinguish  the  life  of  the  body  before 
the  proper  time;  on  this  account  the  beginnings  [inmost 
fibres],  which  act  from  each, — viz.,  from  both  the  voluntary 
and  the  involuntary  things,  in  the  whole  body  go  conjoined 
together."     (A.  C.  9683;   S.  D.  5781;   S.  D.  Mm.  4714.) 

The  being  which  we  call  our  conscious  self  is  therefore 
securely  held  by  our  Creator  and  Preserver  within  the 
hollow  of  His  two  hands.  The  one  hand,  above  our  con- 
sciousness, rules  from  within  through  our  inmost  soul, 
which  is  forever  safe  from  our  own  interference.  The 
other  hand,  below  our  consciousness  and  equally  invisible 
to  us,  holds  us  from  without  and  rules  our  outermost  cor- 
poreal plane.  Between  these  two  Divine  hands  rests  that 
self-conscious  being  which  is  built  up  through  our  life  in 
the  world, — the  man  of  memory,  of  imagination,  and  of 
reason,  possessing  a  conscious  will  and  understanding  on 
each  of  these  three  planes.  The  upper  hand  of  God  rules 
through  the  cerebrum,  inflowing  by  means  of  Divine  Truth 
into  our  understanding,  and  by  it  governing  our  self-will. 
The  nether  hand  of  God  rules  through  the  cerebellum,  in- 
flowing by  means  of  His  love,  affection,  and  good,  and 
thereby  governing  our  self-will,  for  the  latter,  since  the 
great  fall  of  mankind,  is  nothing  but  a  corrupt  mass  of 
evil  and  destructive  tendencies. 

Nearly  everything  in  our  corporeal  plane  is  governed 
by  the  involuntary  functions  of  the  cerebellum,  and  very 
little, — the  mere  surface  of  things, — is  under  the  govern- 
ment of  our  own  volition  in  the  cerebrum. 

Under  normal  conditions  we  are  absolutely  unconscious 
of  anything  that  is  going  on  in  the  interior  departments  of 
the  whole  complex  system  of  our  body.  Everj^thing  in  the 
whole  wonderful  machinery  is  proceeding  in  perfect  order 


PKY BIOLOGICAL  CEABACTEBISTICS.  77 

and  silence,  removed  from  our  own  observation,  reflection 
or  ken.  Every  fibre,  artery  and  vein  is  performing  its  ap- 
pointed task;  each  organ,  intestine,  gland  and  cell  is  busy 
in  its  own  use,  without  asking  our  leave  or  calling  our  at- 
tention to  its  work,  when  everything  is  working  in  order. 

There  is  one  region,  however,  or  one  kingdom  of  our 
corporeal  system,  over  which  the  cerebellum  or  our  own 
volition  is  given  a  little  brief  authority, — the  region  of 
the  lungs  and  the  muscular  and  membranous  system  di- 
rected by  them.  We  can  by  our  own  will  govern  the  oper- 
ation of  the  lungs,  for  a  little  while.  We  can  take  a  full 
breath  or  hold  our  breath,  for  a  little  while,  and  we  can 
compel  the  exterior  muscles  to  perform  certain  extraordi- 
nary tasks,  for  a  little  while.  We  can  force  nature,  (the 
cerebellum),  into  the  service  of  art,  and  we  can  also  very 
seriously  interfere  with  nature,  but  the  latter  after  a  little 
while  takes  out  its  rights  when  the  self -life  is  put  to  sleep. 

And,  then,  in  the  night-time,  there  begins  the  sweeping 
and  the  cleaning,  the  mending  of  the  broken  toys  and  the 
rent  garments,  the  restoring  of  all  that  has  been  used  up  or 
wasted.  All  this  work  is  the  use  of  the  cerebellum,  the 
"mother  nature"  which  never  sleeps,  and  whose  Avork,  like 
woman's,  never  ends.  For  "the  voluntary  things  with  man 
continually  withdraw  from  order,  but  the  involuntary  things 
continually  bring  back  to  order,"  (A.  C.  9683),  and  it  is 
in  the  night-time  that  man  is  governed  by  the  spontaneous 
or  natural  rule  of  the  cerebellum.  (S.  D.  4518.)  And  the 
sole  reason  for  this  is  that  the  Lord  can  then  without  our 
own  interference  fold  us  in  the  arms  of  His  Divine  Love 
and  Mercy.  "When  man  sleeps  the  Lord  guards  him  most 
of  all,  for  love  sleeps  not."     (A.  C.  959,  1983.) 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  cerebral  constitution  of  the  most 
ancients,  it  differed  in  no  respect  from  our  own,  except  in 
this  most  important  internal  respect  that  with  them  the 
two  brains  were  conjoined  as  to  spiritual  operations,  as  is 
the  case  even  now  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet  Mars : 

"I  have  been  instructed  that  the  spirits  of  the  planet 
Mars,  [where  the  race  is  very  similar  to  the  most  ancient 
people  of  our  earth],  have  relation  to  something  which  is 


78  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

interior  in  man,  and  indeed  intermediate  between  the  in- 
tellectual part  and  the  voluntary  part,  thus  to  thought  from 
affection,  and  they  who  are  the  best  of  them,  have  relation 
to  the  affection  of  the  thought.  This  is  the  reason  why 
their  face  makes  a  one  with  their  thought,  and  why  they 
cannot  dissemble  before  any  one."     (A.  C.  7480.) 

"And  because  they  have  such  a  relation  in  the  Maximus 
Homo,  that  middle  portion  of  the  brain  which  is  between 
the  cerebrum  and  the  cerebellum,  corresponds  to  them.  For 
with  those  in  whom  the  cerebrum  and  the  cerebellum  have 
been  conjoined  in  respect  to  spii^itual  operations  the  face 
acts  as  one  with  the  thought,  so  that  from  the  face  the  very 
aft'ection  of  the  thought  shines  forth;  and  from  the  affec- 
tion, with  some  signs  also  going  forth  from  the  eyes,  the 
general  of  the  thought  shines  forth."     (A.  C.  7481.) 

And  the  reason  why  the  two  brains  in  the  man  of  the 
Most  Ancient  Church  were  thus  conjoined  as  to  spiritual 
operations,  was  that  their  understanding  was  one  with  their 
will,  or  their  voluntary  life  was  one  with  their  involuntary, 
and  both  acted  as  one  with  the  Divine  Will  of  the  Lord, 
in  the  perfect  repose  and  self-surrender  of  the  Sabbath 
state. 

From  this  internal  condition,  so  different  from  the  one 
now  prevailing,  there  flowed  forth  a  number  of  distinctive 
externals  of  bodily  life  that  were  unique  to  the  celestial 
man. 

Internal  Respiration. 

Chief  of  these  physiological  characteristics  was  their 
peculiar  manner  of  breathing,  which  is  thus  described  by 
Swedenborg : 

"The  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  perceived  states 
of  love  and  of  faith  by  states  of  respiration,  which  were 
gradually  changed  in  their  posterity.  Of  this  respiration 
nothing  can  be  said  as  yet,  because  at  this  day  such  things 
are  altogether  unknown,  but  the  most  ancient  people  were 
well  acquainted  with  it,  and  so  are  those  who  are  in  the 
other  life,  but  no  longer  any  one  on  this  earth."  (A.  C. 
97.) 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CHABACTEBISTICS.  79 

**What  is  as  yet  unknown  in  the  world,  and  is  perhaps 
difficult  to  believe,  is  that  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  had  an  internal  respiration,  and  no  external  respira- 
tion except  a  tacit  one.  ...  As  these  most  ancient  people 
had  a  respiration  such  as  is  possessed  by  the  angels,  who 
breathe  in  a  similar  manner,  they  were  in  profound  ideas 
of  thought,  and  were  able  to  have  such  perception  as  can- 
not be  described."     (A.  C.  607,  608,  805.) 

"It  was  also  granted  me  to  perceive  the  nature  of  their 
internal  respiration, — that  it  advanced  from  the  umbilicus 
toward  the  heart,  and  so  through  the  lips  without  sound." 
(A.  C.  1118.) 

"It  has  been  showTi  me  to  the  life  how  the  internal 
respiration  of  the  most  ancient  people  silently  flowed  into 
a  kind  of  external  and  thus  tacit  speech,  perceived  by  an- 
other in  his  interior  man.  They  said  that  this  respiration^ 
varied  with  them,  according  to  the  state  of  their  love  and 
faith  in  the  Lord.  They  gave  also  as  a  reason  that  it  could 
not  be  otherwise,  because  they  had  communication  with 
heaven;  for  they  respired  with  the  angels  in  whose  com- 
pany they  were.  Angels  have  a  respiration  to  which  in-  ' 
temal  respiration  corresponds ;  and  it  likewise  varies  with 
them.  For  when  anything  befalls  them,  which  is  contrary 
to  love  and  faith  in  the  Lord,  their  respiration  is  restrained ; 
but  when  they  are  in  the  happiness  of  love  and  faith,  the 
respiration  is  free  and  full.  There  is  something  like  this, 
also,  with  every  man,  but  in  accordance  with  his  corporeal 
and  worldly  loves  and  principles.  When  anything  opposes 
these,  there  is  a  restriction  of  the  respiration,  and  when 
they  are  favored,  the  respiration  is  free  and  full.  These, 
however,  are  variations  of  external  respiration."  (A.  C. 
1119.) 

"It  has  also  been  shown  that  the  internal  respiration  of 
the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  which  was  from  the 
umbilicus  toward  the  interior  region  of  the  breast,  in  the 
course  of  time,  or  in  their  posterity,  was  changed,  and  re- 
ceded more  to  the  region  of  the  back  and  toward  the  ab- 
domen, thus  more  to  the  outward  and  downward ;  and  that 
at  length,  in  the  last  posterity  of  that  Church,  which  ex- 


80  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

isted  immediately  before  the  flood,  scarcely  anything  of 
internal  respiration  remained;  and  when  at  last  there  re- 
mained none  of  it  in  the  breast,  they  were  suffocated  of 
their  own  accord,  but  with  some  an  external  respiration 
then  began  and  with  it  articulate  sound  or  the  language  of 
spoken  words;  thus  with  the  men  before  the  flood  the 
respiration  was  in  accordance  with  the  state  of  their  love 
and  faith ;  and  at  last,  when  there  was  no  love  and  no  faith, 
but  only  persuasion  or  falsity,  internal  respiration  ceased; 
and  with  this  the  immediate  communication  with  angels 
and  perception  also  ceased."  (A.  C.  1120.  See  also  S.  D. 
3322,  3324,  3490.) 

For  further  study  of  this  profound  subject  we  must  re- 
fer the  reader  to  the  Spiritual  Diary,  nos.  3317,  3320-22, 
3464,  where  Swedenborg  describes  his  own  remarkable  ex- 
perience of  a  kind  of  internal  respiration,  for  which  he  was 
especially  formed  and  prepared  from  birth  and  earliest  in- 
fancy, and  this  in  order  that  heaven  might  be  opened  to 
him  and  that  he  might  enter  into  the  most  profound  and  in- 
tense thought  that  has  ever  been  granted  to  mortal  man. 

In  regard  to  the  general  subject  of  breathing  it  should 
be  observed  that  every  man  possesses  a  threefold  respira- 
tion. The  first  of  these  is  internal  and  spiritual, — the 
respiration  of  the  spirit  residing  in  the  cerebrum  and 
breathing  the  atmosphere  of  the  spiritual  world.  The  sec- 
ond is  external  and  of  the  world, — the  voluntary  respira- 
tion of  the  conscious  spirit  in  and  through  the  cerebrum 
and  the  lungs.  And  the  third  is  also  external, — the  quiet, 
unceasing  invoUmiary  respiration  which  is  governed  by 
nerves  from  the  cerebellum. 

During  our  wakeful  hours  all  of  these  three  kinds  of 
respirations  are  constantly  operative,  the  spiritual  respira- 
tion then  making  one  with  the  external  voluntary  breath- 
ing, and  continually  supported  by  the  involuntary  respira- 
tion. The  voluntary  respiration  directs  the  muscles  to  do 
all  their  work  as  a  husbandman  directs  his  laborers,  while 
the  involuntary  function,  like  the  housewife,  has  charge 
of  the  whole  of  the  internal  economy,  particularly  the  heat- 
ing system  and  the  culinary  department.    According  to  the 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CHABACTEEISTICS.  81 

needed  efforts  of  the  body  the  cerebrum  then  rules  the  lungs 
in  deep,  voluminous  breaths,  especially  when  we  brace  our- 
selves for  any  extraordinary  tasks,  or  in  recovering  our- 
selves from  any  violent  passion. 

Again,  when  the  man  of  the  house  returns  from  his  out- 
side duties  and  retires  into  his  office  or  study  for  deep 
thought  and  meditation, — those  studies  upon  which  depend 
the  real  support  and  progress  of  the  whole  domestic  econ- 
omy,— the  cerebellum  as  a  good  and  faithful  housewife  im- 
mediately imposes  silence  upon  the  household.  The  Thinker 
of  the  family  is  not  to  be  disturbed  by  the  creaking  of 
expanding  and  contracting  air-cells  and  tubes;  all  noise 
is  hushed,  and  a  tacit  external  breathing  ensues,  regulated 
almost  entirely  by  nerves  from  the  cerebellum.  The  more 
profound  the  thought,  the  more  silent  becomes  the  volun- 
tary breathing,  as  silent  as  the  breathing  of  the  spirit  it- 
self in  its  cerebral  chamber;  the  external  voluntary  res- 
piration appears  almost  to  have  vanished,  until,  after  a 
period,  the  spirit  returns  to  earth  and  recovers  its  foot- 
hold there  by  a  deep,  full  breath.  It  is  this  quiet,  volun- 
tary respiration  of  the  cerebrum  mixed  with  the  involun- 
tary respiration  of  the  cerebellum,  that  is  meant  by  the 
^' tacit  external  breathing"  which  the  men  of  the  Most  An- 
cient Church  did  possess  together  with  the  internal  respira- 
tion of  the  spirit. 

When,  however,  both  the  spirit  and  the  cerebrum  fall 
asleep,  there  ensues  the  purely  involuntary  respiration,  also 
called  the  spontaneous  or  natural  breathing,  which  is  un- 
der the  complete  and  undisturbed  charge  of  the  cerebellum. 
(A.  C.  3893.)  There  is  a  sacred  sphere  about  the  gentle 
and  regular  breathing, — at  times  almost  imperceptible, — 
of  the  sleeping  man,  for  the  angels  of  the  highest  heaven 
then  stand  on  guard  lest  anyone  interfere  with  the  purely 
Divine  work,  which  is  now  going  on  in  the  body. 

All  of  us,  therefore,  possess  an  internal  respiration,  a 
respiration  of  the  spirit,  in  nowise  different  from  the  in- 
ternal respiration  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  except  in 
this  important  respect  that  the  spirit  which  breathes  in  us 
is  a  very  different  spirit  from  the  spirit  of  the  celestial  man. 
6 


82  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  spirit  which  breathed  in  his  brain  was  an  angelic  spirit, 
a  spirit  which  in  all  things  willingly  co-operated  with  the 
Divine  Spirit,  a  spirit  in  which  will  and  understanding 
were  one,  and  both  were  good  and  untainted  by  hereditary 
and  actual  evil.  But  the  spirit  that  breathes  in  us,  since 
the  days  of  the  fall,  is  a  spirit  which  by  birth  and  acquired 
nature  continually  strives  contrary  to  the  Spirit  of  God  and 
His  laws  of  natural  order.  Even  with  those  of  us  who 
have  conquered  their  own  self-will  and  thus  have  become 
spiritual  men,  there  remains  forever  in  the  subdued  pro- 
prium  the  taint  and  tendency  of  hereditary  evil,  which,  as 
long  as  we  live  in  this  world,  will  prevent  the  full  restora- 
tion of  that  kind  of  heavenly  breathing,  which  was  the  ' '  in- 
ternal respiration"  of  the  man  of  the  Golden  Age. 

Speech,  Hearing  and  Countenance. 

Since  all  vocal  speech  is  effected  by  various  applications 
of  the  external  respiration  of  the  lungs,  and  since  the  men 
of  the  Golden  Age  possessed  no  such  breathing  "except  a 
tacit  one, "  it  is  readily  seen  that  their  speech  also  must  have 
been  different  from  our  own.  It  is  described  in  the  Writ- 
ings as  "a  tacit  speech,  perceived  by  another  in  his  in- 
ternal man."     (A.  C.  1119.) 

"Thus  they  spoke  not  so  much  by  words, — as  was  done 
afterwards  and  at  this  day, — but  by  ideas,  as  the  angels 
do;  and  these  they  could  express  by  innumerable  changes 
of  the  features  and  the  face,  especially  of  the  lips.  In  the 
lips  there  are  countless  series  of  muscular  fibres  which  at 
this  day  are  not  set  free,  but  being  free  with  the  men  of 
that  time  they  could  so  present,  signify,  and  represent 
ideas  by  means  of  them  as  to  express  in  a  minute's  time 
what  at  this  day  would  require  an  hour  to  say  by  articulate 
sounds  and  words,  and  they  could  do  this  more  fully  and 
clearly  to  the  apprehension  and  understanding  of  those 
present  than  is  possible  by  words  or  series  of  words  in  com- 
bination."    (A.  C.  607.) 

"There  was  shown  to  me  what  was  the  nature  of  their 
speech  when  they  lived  in  this  world, — that  it  was  not 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  CHABACTEBISTICS.  83 

articulate  like  the  vocal  speech  of  our  time,  but  tacit,  and 
was  produced  not  by  external  but  by  internal  respiration.  It 
was  also  granted  me  to  perceive  the  nature  of  their  internal 
respiration, — that  it  advanced  from  the  navel  toward  the 
heart,  and  so  through  the  lips,  without  sound;  and  that  it 
did  not  enter  into  the  ear  of  another  and  strike  upon  what 
is  called  the  drum  of  the  ear  by  an  external  way,  but  by 
a  certain  way  within  the  mouth,  in  fact,  by  a  passage  there . 
which  is  now  called  the  Eustachian  tube.  And  it  was 
shown  me  that  by  such  speech  they  could  much  more  fully 
express  the  sentiments  of  the  mind  and  the  ideas  of  thought 
than  can  possibly  be  done  by  articulate  sounds  or  vocal 
words,  which  likewise  are  directed  by  the  respiration,  but 
the  external.  For  there  is  nothing  in  any  word  that  is  not 
directed  by  applications  of  the  respiration.  But  with  them 
this  was  done  much  more  perfectly,  because  by  the  internal 
respiration;  which,  from  the  fact  that  it  is  interior,  is  at 
once  far  more  perfect  and  more  applicable  and  conformable 
to  the  very  ideas  of  thought.  Besides,  they  also  conversed 
by  slight  movements  of  the  lips  and  correspondent  changes 
of  the  face ;  for,  being  celestial  men,  whatever  they  thought 
shone  forth  from  the  face  and  eyes,  which  were  varied 
conformably.  They  could  by  no  means  put  on  an  expres- 
sion of  countenance  different  from  that  which  was  in  agree- 
ment with  their  thoughts.  Simulation,  and  still  more  de- 
ceit, was  to  them  a  monstrous  iniquity."     (A.  C.  1118.) 

As  to  the  communication  of  ideas  by  means  of  the  face 
and  the  lips  we  learn  further  that  "the  first  speech  of  all 
on  every  earth  was  by  means  of  the  face,  and  this  from 
two  origins  in  the  face, — from  the  lips  and  from  the  eyes. 
The  reason  was  that  the  face  was  formed  altogether  to 
effigy  those  things  which  a  man  thinks  and  wills.  Hence 
the  face  has  been  called  the  ef&gy  or  index  of  the  mind. 
A  further  reason  was  that  in  the  most  ancient  or  first  times 
there  was  sincerity,  and  man  did  not  think,  and  did  not 
wish  to  think,  anything  but  what  he  desired  should  shine 
forth  from  the  face.  Thus  also  the  affections  of  the  mind 
and  the  ideas  of  thought  could  be  presented  to  the  life  and 
fully.     In  this  way  they  appeared  to  the  eye  also,  as  in  a 


84  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

form,  and  very  many  together.  This  speech,  therefore,  sur- 
passed the  speech  of  words  as  much  as  the  sense  of  sight 
surpasses  that  of  hearing;  that  is,  as  the  sight  of  a  land- 
scape surpasses  hearing  it  described."  (A.  C.  8249;  com- 
pare A.  C.  10587.) 

''The  influx  from  the  cerebellum  insinuates  itself  espe- 
cially into  the  face,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the 
disposition  is  inscribed  on  the  face  and  the  affections  ap- 
pear in  it,  for  the  most  part  without  the  man's  volition, 
affections  such  as  fear,  reverence,  shame,  etc.  These  come 
from  the  cerebellum  by  means  of  its  fibres,  when  there  is 
no  dissimulation  within."     (A.  C.  4326.) 

With  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  in  whom  the 
voluntary  and  the  involuntary  functions  acted  as  one,  "all 
the  involuntary  of  the  cerebellum  was  manifested  in  the 
face,  and  at  that  time  they  knew  not  how  to  exhibit  any 
other  thing  in  the  countenance  than  as  heaven  flowed  into 
the  involuntary  tendencies  and  thence  into  the  will. ' '  But 
after  the  fall,  when  the  will  and  the  understanding  were 
separated,  "the  fibres  from  the  cerebellum  changed  their 
efflux  into  the  face,  and  instead  thereof  fibres  from  the  cere- 
brum were  transferred  thither,  which  now  control  those 
which  are  from  the  cerebellum,  and  this  from  an  endeavor 
to  form  the  expressions  of  the  face  according  to  the  behests 
of  man's  own  will,  all  of  which  is  from  the  cerebrum." 
(A.  C.  4326.) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LIFE  IN  PARADISE. 

The  Earthly  Paeadise. 
.fV^l^t^'"'^  "*  *'  ^^"'"^^^  ^^«  ^as  not  only  a  Garden 
external  th  ngs  also  it  was  situated  in  an  actual  Paradise 

tune   filled   with   bleak  and   bare   mountains,   dry   water 
courses  and  forbidding  wildernesses,  wa.  th;n  ^ly  "I 
land   flowing   with   milk   and   honey";    as    Ovid   has    it 
flumtna  jam  lactis,  jam  flumim  nectaris  ibant  "     (Then 
rivers  of  milk,  then  rivers  of  nectar  were  flowing)     The 

Setor  '  "  P '''  !•'  ''  '''^'  '"''''  fr°-  the  hand  of  tJe 
Creator,  was  a  Paradise,  such  as  has  been  eloquently  pic- 
tured by  Swedenborg  in  his  Worship  and  Love  of  God 

vlentvLTl  f  ,  '^  T^'""^  °°*'''°^  ^"*  pleasantness  and 
shrub  ;nd  f^  1"*  fragrances  from  the  branches  of  every 
shrub  and  from  the  pores  of  every  leaf  and  fruit,  filling  the 
cn-cumambient  air  with  these  delightful  scents,  which  were 
so  many  sources  of  fruitfulness  exuding  from  the  earth  by 
new  ways,  vi.    by  the  roots,  twigs  and  leaves  of  neSom 

dTe  ''*Tw.  L.'g.Tl)'''*  "'''"'''"'  '"'''"  called  Par™ 

so  Znlv'r*''i°T  '""l"^"^  ^'^^  '^  "^"^  creatures,  and 
so  amply  furnished  and  adorned  with  delightful  fruit^  ad 
vancmg  and  wandering  through  its  de^ees  a^  le wt 
reached  the  middle  station  of  !ts  sprinror 'the  ^fsj 
temperature,  and  having  now  attained  its  highest  defect 
overflowed  with  every  emolument.  The  inffnt  wMTea^  s 
be  ng  weaned  droppings  of  milk  flowed  plentif u  fy  S 
the  fertile  and  lately  pregnant  branches,  and  through  new 
veins  returned  back  to  the  roots  of  the  m;temal  SveT 
Every  species  of  animal  was  led  to  the  employment  suitable 


86  TBE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

to  his  nature,  and  provided  uses  and  benefits  for  future 
time  and  for  posterity.  Everything,  according  to  the  na- 
ture with  which  it  was  endowed,  celebrated  the  festal  days, 
not  only  of  its  own  spring,  but  at  the  same  time  also  of  the 
universal  springtime. 

"The  globe  was  now  at  its  height,  nor  was  anything 
wanting  to  any  sense,  by  which  it  might  exalt  its  life  and 
replenish  the  soul  itself  with  joys.  For  the  touch  there 
was  the  sweet  warmth  of  springtime,  mixed  with  the 
natural  moisture  of  the  earth,  which  by  its  influence  grati- 
fied every  fibre.  For  the  smell  there  were  fragrances  ex- 
haling from  every  pore  of  each  leaf,  with  which  the  air, 
being  full  charged,  expanded  the  inmost  reticular  textures 
of  the  lungs.  For  the  taste  there  were  fruits  of  the  most 
exquisite  relish,  and  clusters  hanging  dovm  to  the  ground 
from  the  leafy  vine.  For  the  hearing  there  was  a  concert 
and  lovely  melody  of  the  many  chirping  and  carolling 
birds,  which  echoed  so  harmoniously  through  fields  and 
groves  that  the  interior  recesses  of  the  brain  were  put  into 
a  tremulous  and  concordant  motion.  For  the  sight  there 
was  the  whole  aspect  of  the  heaven  and  of  the  earth,  whose 
greatest  objects  were  so  distinctly  ornamented  by  their 
smallest  parts  that  they  easily  disposed  the  animal  spirits 
to  pleasure  and  delight."     (W.  L.  G.  29,  30.) 

Social  Relations  in  Paradise. 

In  this  earthly  heaven  the  people  of  the  Golden  Age  lived, 
as  do  even  now  the  celestial  angels,  not  in  crowded  cities 
or  communities,  but  in  the  roomy  freedom  of  pastoral  life. 

"In  the  most  ancient  time  mankind  lived  distinguished 
into  houses,  families  and  nations ;  a  house  consisting  of  the 
husband  and  wife  with  their  children,  together  with  some 
of  the  family  who  served;  a  family  consisting  of  a  greater 
or  lesser  number  of  houses  that  lived  not  far  apart,  and  yet 
not  together ;  and  a  nation  consisting  of  a  larger  or  smaller 
number  of  families."     (A.  C.  470,ll59.) 

"The  reason  why  they  dwelt  thus  alone  by  themselves, 
distinguished  only  into  houses,  families  and  nations,  was 


LIFE  IN  PABADISE. 


87 


that  by  this  means  the  Church  might  be  preserved  entire, 
so  that  all  the  houses  and  families  might  be  dependent  on 
their  parents,  and  thereby  remain  in  love  and  true  wor- 
ship.    It  is  to  be  observed  also  that  each  house  was  of  a 
peculiar  genius,  distinct  from  every  other;  for  it  is  well 
known  that  children,  and  even  remote  descendants,  derive 
from  their  parents  a  particular  genius  and  such  marked 
characteristics  that  they  can  be  distinguished  by  the  face 
and  by  many  other  peculiarities.     Therefore,  in  order  that 
there  might  not  be  a  confusion,  but  an  exact  distinction, 
it  pleased  the  Lord  that  they  should  dwell  in  this  manner! 
Thus  the  Church  was  a  living  representative  of  the  king- 
dom of  the  Lord;  for  in  the  Lord's  kingdom  there  are  in- 
numerable societies,  each  one  distinct  from  every  other,  ac- 
cording to  the  variations  of  love  and  faith."     (A.  C.  471.) 
''In  the  most  ancient  times  dignities  were  such  only  as 
were  accorded  by  children  to  parents ;  they  were  dignities 
of  love,  full  of  respect  and  veneration,  not  on  account  of 
birth  from  these  parents,  but  because  of  the  instruction  and 
wisdom  received  from  them,  which  were  a  second  birth,  in 
itself  spiritual,   because  it  was  the  birth  of  their  spirit. 
This  was  the  only  dignity  in  the  most  ancient  times,  for  na- 
tions, families  and  houses  then  dwelt  apart  by  themselves, 
and  not  under  the  rule  of  governments  as  at  this  day.     It 
was  the  father  of  the  family  in  whom  this  dignity  was 
vested.     By  the  ancients  those  times  were  called  the  golden 
ages."     (D.  P.  215.) 

In  this  Republic  of  Love  ''he  ruled  who  was  the  father 
of  the  nation,  and  under  him  the  fathers  of  the  families, 
and  under  these  the  fathers  of  the  households.  But  all 
these  ruled  from  love,  such  as  that  of  a  father  toward  his 
children,  who  teaches  them  how  they  ought  to  live,  bestows 
benefits  upon  them,  and  as  far  as  he  is  able  gives'  them  of 
his  own.  Nor  does  it  ever  enter  his  mind  to  subject  them 
under  himself  as  subjects  or  as  servants;  but  he  loves  that 
they  should  obey  him  as  sons  obey  their  father.  And  as 
this  love  grows  as  it  descends,  [toward  grandchildren,  etc.], 
therefore  the  father  of  the  nation  acts  from  a  more  in- 
terior love  than  does  the  immediate  father  of  the  children. 


88  TRE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Such  also  is  the  rule  in  the  heavens,  because  such  is  the  rule 
of  the  Lord,  for  His  rule  is  from  His  Divine  love  toward 
the  whole  human  race."     (A.  C.  10814.) 

Priesthood  and  Royalty  United. 

The  social  organization  in  the  Most  Ancient  Church  was 
therefore  completely  patriarchial,  such  as  has  ever  pre- 
vailed among  pastoral  and  nomadic  peoples,  and  in  this 
most  perfect  and  most  free  of  all  forms  of  government  the 
priestly  and  the  royal  functions  are  always  united  in  one 
office  and  in  one  person.  In  the  Golden  Age  there  was 
no  separate  priesthood  and  no  separate  royalty  or  civil 
rule,  but  the  father  of  each  family  was  both  priest  and 
king  in  his  own  house,  and  thus  the  whole  Church  was  truly 
a  "nation  of  priests  and  kings,"  in  which  autocracy  like 
democracy  was  altogether  unknown,  for  Theocracy  was  the 
only  rule  they  could  imagine  possible. 

There  was  at  that  time  but  one  ruling  function,  and  that 
was  the  function  of  teaching.  There  was  no  need  of 
threats  and  punishments,  but  the  father  of  the  household 
simply  taught  the  Lord's  Truth,  which  was  at  once  per- 
ceived and  recognized  as  the  expression  of  the  Lord 's  merci- 
ful direction  toward  greater  blessings.  Thus  "the  father 
of  the  family  taught  those  who  were  of  his  house  the  pre- 
cepts of  charity,  and  thence  the  life  of  love,  in  their  taber- 
nacles, as  later  on  in  temples."     (A.  E.  799g^.) 

"In  the  Ancient  Representative  Church  the  priesthood 
and  the  royalty  were  joined  together  in  one  person,  be- 
cause the  good  and  truth  which  proceed  from  the  Lord  are 
united,  and  these  are  also  joined  together  in  heaven  with 
the  angels."  (A.  C.  6148.)  This  union  of  the  ruling 
functions  was  universal  in  the  most  remote  antiquity,  as 
is  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  researches  of  archeology. 
"Priest-king"  was  the  regular  title  of  the  rulers  among 
the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Chaldea,  and  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  same  form  of  government  prevailed  in  pre- 
historic Egypt.  The  grand-lama  of  Thibet  was  until  re- 
cently such  a  priest-king,  as  was  also  for  untold  ages  the 


LIFE  IN  PARADISE.  89 

Emperor  of  China.  In  the  time  of  Abraham  the  custom 
still  survived  in  some  portions  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  as 
is  evident  from  the  case  of  Melchizedek,  (a  name  which 
means  "king  of  righteousness"),  of  whom  it  is  written  that 
"Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  brought  forth  bread  and 
wine ;  and  he  was  a  priest  to  God  Most  High ;  and  he  blessed 
Abraham."     (Gen.  14:18,  19.) 

Occupations,  Dwellings,  and  Worship. 

There  is  not  much  of  external  interest  to  tell  of  the  ' '  sim- 
ple life"  of  these  wise  children  in  the  infancy  of  our  race. 
Like  the  Arabs  of  today,  "they  dwelt  in  tabernacles  and 
tents,  and  also  wandered  about  with  them,  for  many  of 
them  at  that  time  were  shepherds."  (A.  E.  799(1.)  "The 
most  ancient  people  not  only  journeyed  about  with  their 
tents,  but  also  dwelt  in  the  tents,  and  performed  their  holy 
worship  in  them."  (A.  C.  1102.)  "There  was  with  them 
no  other  love  of  riches  than  that  they  should  possess  the 
necessities  of  life,  which  they  procured  for  themselves  from 
flocks  and  herds,  and  also  from  cultivated  fields,  meadows 
and  gardens,  from  which  they  had  their  food.  Among  the 
necessities  of  their  life  there  were  also  decorous  homes, 
furnished  with  all  kinds  of  useful  things,  and  also  garments. 
Parents,  children,  servants  and  maids  in  a  household  were 
busy  in  the  care  of  all  these  things  and  in  the  necessary 
work."     (D.  P.  215.) 

It  will  be  vain  for  archeologists  to  look  for  architectural 
remains  from  that  Golden  Age  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and 
this  for  the  reason  that  the  people  of  that  age  lived  ex- 
clusively in  tents  and  also  performed  their  worship  in  them. 
Each  home  wa^  then  a  church  of  God,  dedicated  to  His  wor- 
ship, and  on  this  account  the  home-tent,  in  which  the  wor- 
ship and  the  daily  life  were  inseparable,  was  regarded  with 
the  utmost  reverence,  as  the  dwelling-place  of  God  with 
men.  In  a  somewhat  later  age,  as  the  externals  of  life  be- 
gan to  increase  and  simplicity  decreased,  special  tents  or 
tabernacles  were  set  aside  for  the  Divine  worship,  and 
finally  they  built  houses   of  worship,   constructed  not  of 


90  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

stone  but  of  wood,  because  the  state  was  still  a  state  of  ce- 
lestial good,  to  which  wood  corresponds,  and  not  yet  a  state 
of  spiritual  truth  represented  by  stone.     (A.  C.  414,  3720.) 

The  memory  of  this  primitive  tent-worship  is  still  pre- 
served in  the  Hebrew  tongue  where  the  verb  lialal,  "to 
praise,  to  glorify, ' '  is  derived  directly  from  the  word  aohel, 
a  ''tent;"  hence  the  term  "hallelu-jah"  means  originally 
to  "glorify  Jehovah  in  the  home  tent.''  Hence  also  came 
the  Hebrew  word  for  "city,"  {ayir,  Assyrian  alu),  for  the 
first  cities  were  nothing  but  collections  of  tents. 

"The  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  were  internal 
men  and  had  no  externals  of  worship,  while  the  men  of 
the  Ancient  Church  were  external  men  and  had  externals 
of  worship;  for  the  former  saw  external  things  through 
internal  things  as  in  the  noon-day  light  of  the  sun,  while 
the  latter  saw  internal  things  through  external  things  as 
in  the  light  of  the  moon  and  the  stars  by  night."  (A.  C. 
4493.)  That  is  to  say,  there  were  not  in  the  worship  of 
the  Most  Ancient  Church  any  fixed  representative  rites  of 
worship  as  in  the  church  that  followed,  but  the  external 
worship  was  the  simple  and  spontaneous  expression  of  their 
internal  adoration  of  Jehovah  their  Cod.  There  were  no 
rites  such  as  circumcision,  washings,  or  sacrifices,  nor  as 
yet  any  special  days  set  apart  for  worship,  for  every  day 
was  a  Sabbath,  a  day  of  adoration,  purification,  se^Z-sacri- 
fice  and  interior  communication  with  heaven  and  with  God. 
Nevertheless,  there  w^as  also  each  day  an  external  worship, 
welling  forth  from  a  heart  overflowing  with  love  and  grati- 
tude and  with  a  desire  to  lead  the  younger  and  simpler 
members  of  the  family  to  more  internal  perceptions  and 
loves.  They  had  no  externals  of  worship  merely  represent- 
ing internal  things,  but  the  internal  things  themselves  nat- 
urally expressed  themselves  in  outward  acts,  such  as  the 
act  of  prostrating  oneself,  (not  merely  kneeling),  the  act 
of  blessing  in  the  worship,  etc.  They  also  loved  to  con- 
duct their  worship  not  only  in  the  tents,  but  also  on  the 
top  of  some  mountain,  being  naturally  led  thither  by  their 
exalted  love  of  God  and  the  desire  for  nearness  to  Him. 
(A.  C.  795,  796.) 


LIFE  IN  PARADISE.  91 

''It  was  perceived  from  the  most  ancient  people  who 
were  from  our  earth,  that  they  had  thus  lived  in  their  time, 
and  that  they  then  knew  not  what  it  was  to  exercise  com- 
mand over  others  from  the  love  of  self,  and  from  the  love 
of  the  world  to  heap  up  wealth  beyond  what  is  necessary ; 
and  that  they  then  had  inward  peace  and  at  the  same  time 
outward  peace,   and  from  this  there  was  heaven   among 
men.       Those  tunes  were  therefore  called  by  the  ancient 
writers  the  Golden  Age,  and  they  were  described  by  say- 
ing that  the  people  did  what  was  just  and  right  from  the 
law  written  on  their  hearts.     The  state  of  life  of  those  times 
is  described  in  the  Word  by  'dwelling  by  themselves  safely 
and  alone  without  gates  and  bars,'  (Ezech.  38:11).     And 
as  their  habitations  were  tents,  therefore  in  the  memory  of 
this,  a  tent  was  erected  which  was  for  a  house  of  God,  and 
afterwards  the  feast  of  tents  was  instituted,  in  which  they 
were  glad  from  the  heart.     And  as  they  who  lived  in  this 
way  were  free  from  the  insane  love  of  exercising  command 
for  the  sake  of  themselves,  and  free  from  the  love  of  gain- 
ing the  world  for  the  sake  of  the  world,  therefore  Heaven 
then  let  itself  down  to  them,  and  the  Lord  was  seen  by  many 
in  the  human  form."     (A.  C.  10160.) 

The  Name  "Jehovah." 

Possessing  as  yet  no  external  voluntary  respiration,  ' '  ex- 
cept a  tacit  one, ' '  their  speech  likewise  was  a  tacit  speech, 
but  still  a  speech.  It  was  not  simply  a  beautiful  pantomime 
of  the  delicate  muscles  of  the  face  and  the  lips,  (now 
atrophied  by  disuse),  by  means  of  which  affections  alone 
could  be  communicated  but  not  the  distinct  meanings  of 
exact  thought.  As  has  been  stated  before,  they  also  had  a 
tacit  speech,  communicated  to  the  hearer  by  means  of  the 
Eustachian  tube,  and  this  speech  gradually  formed  itself 
into  an  actual  language,  which  was  one  with  the  universal 
language  of  the  spiritual  world. 

"The  first  language  of  men  on  our  earth  was  in  agree- 
ment with  the  angelic  language ;  and  the  Hebrew  language 
is  in  agreement  with  it  in  some  respects."     (H.  H.  237.) 


92  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

''In  some  languages  in  the  world,  also,  there  are  such 
natural  words,  [i.  e.,  'onomatopoetic'],  and  the  most  ancient 
language  was  altogether  such  as  is  the  language  of  spirits, 
which  is  wholly  natural;  the  interior  ideas  of  a  man  are 
also  in  that  language,  although  the  man  is  not  aware  of  it; 
and  hence  it  is  that  after  death,  when  he  is  among  spirits, 
he  speaks  that  language  without  instruction."  (S.  D. 
4870.) 

The  first  language,  therefore,  that  was  spoken  by  men  on 
earth,  was  one  with  the  language  of  heaven,  and  the  holiest 
word  of  that  language  was  the  name  by  which  they  knew 
and  adored  their  ]\Iaker, — the  name  Jehovah.  To  tell  all 
the  heavenly  arcana  involved  in  this  name  would  be  im- 
possible, but  we  may  try  to  present  a  few  general  ideas. 
The  root-meaning  of  this  name  is  the  idea  of  ' '  being, ' '  con- 
nected with  other  roots  meaning  "to  live,"  and  "to  love." 
It  is,  properly,  the  only  name  of  the  Infinite  Esse,  the 
Divine  Being  who  revealed  Himself  to  the  most  ancients  in 
the  form  of  a  Man,  and  who  again  revealed  Himself  to  Mo- 
ses under  the  name  of  "  I  am  who  I  am. ' '  Nor  does  it  only 
mean  "I  am"  in  the  present  tense,  but  in  all  tenses  and 
modes.  For  the  "je"  in  this  name  is  found  again  in  the 
future  tense,  {yehi),  of  the  Hebrew  verb  hay  ah  or  hawah, 
"to  be;"  the  "ho"  in  the  participle,  {hoy eh),  and  the 
"wah"  in  the  preterite  or  past  tense,  {hawah),  though  the 
past  and  the  future  are  interchangeable  in  the  Hebrew.  It 
literally  means,  therefore,  "He  who  is,  and  who  was,  and 
who  is  to  come, ' '  for  the  name  Jehovah  ' '  means  Is,  and  He 
who  Is,  or  who  is  Esse  itself,  He  also  Was  and  Is  To  Come ; 
for  things  past  and  future  are  present  in  Him."  (A.  R. 
13.) 

This  name,  moreover,  (the  correct  pronunciation  of  which 
is  "Ye-ho-ou-ah,"  with  the  accent  on  the  last  syllable), 
does  not  contain  a  single  consonant,  but  is  made  up  alto- 
gether of  vowels  and  a  breathing.  Now,  consonants  express 
truths,  while  all  vowels  express  affections  or  loves.  Of  these 
vowels  I  and  E  express  spiritual  affections,  the  affections  of 
truth ;  0  and  U  express  celestial  affections,  the  affections  of 
good;   and  A  is  intermediate,   expressive  of  both.       The 


LIFE  IN  PABADISE.  93 

breathing  H,  finally,  signifies  what  is  Infinite  and  Divine, 
being  in  itself  pure  breath  or  spirit.  Thus  the  first  part 
of  the  name,  (Ye),  stands  for  the  life  of  truth,  the  Divine 
Wisdom  itself;  the  second  part,  (ho),  stands  for  the  life  of 
good,  the  Divine  Love  itself;  and  the  ending,  (ouah),  stands 
for  both  in  Divine  Union.* 

This  the  holiest  and  most  significant  of  all  words  was  the 
name  by  which  the  men  of  the  Golden  Age  knew  and  wor- 
shipped the  Lord,  as  we  are  repeatedly  told  in  the  Writ- 
ings, and  remarkable  indeed  is  the  history  of  that  name. 
''When  there  is  not  a  Church,  the  name  'God'  is  used,  but 
when  there  is  a  Church,  the  name  'Jehovah'  is  used. 
No  one  was  allowed  to  mention  Jehovah  unless  he  had  a 
knowledge  of  the  true  faith,  but  anyone  might  mention 
God."     (A.  C.  624.) 

How  true  this  is  may  be  seen  from  the  history  of  the 
Churches.  When  the  Most  Ancient  Church  flourished  in 
its  integrity,  the  name  Jehovah  was  the  most  usual,  per- 
haps the  only  name  of  the  Lord,  but  as  it  declined  the  name 
grew  into  disuse,  was  removed  from  the  memory  of  those 
who  would  have  profaned  it,  and  was  all  but  lost.  In  the 
Ancient  Church,  after  the  flood,  the  use  of  the  name  re- 
vived, and  was  the  holiest  of  the  nmnerous  Divine  names 
which  then  came  into  existence,  but  as  this  Church  finally 
fell  into  idolatry  the  name  was  again  forgotten,  and  this  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  Pharaoh  of  Egypt  to  whom  Moses 
spoke  in  the  name  of  "Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,"  asked 
in  scorn,  "Who  is  Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice 
to  let  Israel  go  ?     I  know  not  the  Jehovah. "     ( Ex.  5 :  2. ) 

In  Egypt,  indeed,  the  sacred  name  had  vanished  almost 
without  a  vestige,  (owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  esoteric  ten- 
dencies of  the  Egyptian  priesthood),  but  with  other  na- 
tions the  name  may  still  be  traced  in  the  Chaldean  Ea  or 
Hea,  the  Assyrian  Iva,  the  Syrian  Iao,  and  the  Latin  Jove. 
The  true  form  of  the  name,  however,  lingered  longest  in 
Syria,  and  was  revived  for  a  brief  time  in  the  Second  An- 


*  For  further  study  of  this  wonderful  name,  see  our  papers  in  New 
Church  Life,  1888,  pp.  129,  151,  165. 


94  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

cient  Church,  instituted  by  Eber  in  Mesopotamia.  Within 
a  few  generations  this  Church,  also,  fell  into  idolatry,  and 
again  the  name  was  forgotten;  even  Abraham  knew  the 
Lord  only  under  the  name  of  ' '  God  Shaddai, ' '  and  to  Mo- 
ses the  name  Jehovah  was  entirely  new  when  revealed  out 
of  the  burning  bush. 

The  Israelites,  indeed,  knew  the  name  from  the  revelation 
given  thi'ough  Moses,  and  in  the  Divine  Providence  the  true 
pronunciation  of  the  name  was  fixed  forever  by  the  Maso- 
rites.  But,  being  from  the  beginning  a  wicked  and  adulter- 
ous generation,  the  Jews  were  not  allowed  to  utter  the 
name.  By  a  misunderstanding  of  the  commandment  "thou 
shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God  in  vain, ' '  they 
never  dared  to  speak  this  name,  and  instead  they  read 
Adonai,  "the  Lord,"  wherever  Jehovah  occurs  in  the  Old 
Testament.  It  was  on  account  of  the  Jews  that  neither 
the  evangelists  nor  the  apostles  would  say  the  name  Je- 
hovah, and  therefore  they  said,  instead,  'the  Lord.'  "  (T. 
C.  R.  297.) 

The  primitive  Christians,  after  they  began  to  study  the 
Old  Testament  in  the  Hebrew,  did  not  share  these  scruples, 
and  the  name  Jehovah  again  became  known  in  the  world, 
but  after  the  Last  Judgment,  in  the  present  dead  Church 
of  Christendom,  we  may  observe  the  same  remarkable  phe- 
nomenon of  the  ages  in  the  growing  dislike  of  the  name,  the 
' '  learned ' '  world  having  unanimously  condemned  it  as  "  un- 
scientific," adopting  instead  the  form  "Jahveh."  Thus 
history  repeats  itself.  But  in  the  Church  of  the  New  Jeru- 
salem the  name  Jehovah  will  be  preserved,  understood,  and 
cherished,  as  in  the  days  of  the  Golden  Age. 

Marriage  in  the  Golden  Age. 

As  stated  in  the  chapter  on  the  Preadamites,  the  first 
law  promulgated  by  God  to  man  was  the  law  of  marriage, 
for  this  is  the  most  universal  of  all  the  laws  that  the  Cre- 
ator has  impressed  upon  creation.  He  Himself  is  the  in- 
finite union  of  Divine  Love  and  Divine  Wisdom,  and  from 
this  union  there  could  flow  forth  nothing  but  a  striving  for 


LIFE  IN  PARADISE.  95 

a  corresponding  conjunction  in  all  finite  things  of  good  and 
truth,  of  substance  and  form,  of  active  and  passive.  With 
the  people  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  this  universal 
conatus  or  striving  expressed  itself,  internally,  by  the  spirit- 
ual and  heavenly  marriage  of  will  and  understanding,  of 
love  and  faith,  of  affection  and  thought,  within  each  man 
and  woman.  Externally,  and  at  the  same  time  internally, 
this  conjugial  conatus  of  energy-effort  brought  to  the  arms 
of  each  wisdom-man  his  predestined  love-woman  for  an 
eternal  partnership  on  earth  and  in  Heaven. 

The  gold  of  the  wedding  ring  has  been  throughout  the 
ages  the  fitting  symbol  of  the  marriage  union,  for  the  good 
of  love  truly  conjugial  was  the  highest  good,  the  love  of 
loves,  in  the  Golden  Age.  One  Lord,  one  Church  united 
with  Him ;  one  husband,  one  wife  joined  with  him  in  every 
thought,  and  he  with  her  in  every  affection, — this  was  the 
rule  of  life  in  that  truly  human  Church  of  Adam.  Charity, 
friendship,  love  of  the  neighbor,  flowed  spontaneously  from 
the  love  of  the  Lord;  and  the  dearest  friend,  next  to  the 
Divine  Friend,  and  emulating  Him,  was  the  conjugial  part- 
ner whom  He  had  given  to  each  one  for  time  and  eternity. 

^' 'Male  and  female  created  He  them.'  (Gen.  2:27.) 
What  is  meant  by  'male  and  female'  in  the  internal  sense, 
was  well  known  to  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  but  when  the 
interior  sense  of  the  Word  was  lost  among  their  posterity, 
this  arcanum  also  perished.  Their  marriages  were  their 
chief  sources  of  happiness  and  delight,  and  whatever  ad- 
mitted of  the  comparison  they  likened  to  marriage,  in  order 
that  in  this  way  they  might  perceive  its  felicity.  Being  in- 
ternal men  they  were  delighted  only  with  internal  things. 
External  things  they  merely  saw  with  the  eyes,  but  they 
thought  of  what  was  represented."     (A.  C.  54.) 

''As  every  law  of  truth  and  right  descends  from  celestial 
beginnings,  or  from  the  order  of  life  of  the  celestial  man, 
so  in  a  spiritual  manner  does  the  law  of  marriages.  It  is 
the  celestial,  (or  heavenly),  marriage,  from  and  according 
to  which  all  marriages  on  earth  must  be  derived,  and  this 
marriage  is  such  that  there  is  one  Lord  and  one  heaven,  or 
one  Church  whose  head  is  the  Lord.     The  law  of  marriage 


96  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

thence  derived  is  that  there  shall  be  one  husband  and  one 
wife,  and  when  this  is  the  case  the  two  represent  the  ce- 
lestial marriage,  and  are  an  exemplar  of  the  celestial  man. 
This  law  was  not  only  revealed  to  the  men  of  the  Most 
Ancient  Church,  but  was  also  inscribed  on  their  internal 
man,  wherefore  at  that  time  a  man  had  but  one  wife  and 
they  constituted  one  house.  But  when  their  posterity 
ceased  to  be  internal  men,  and  became  external,  they  mar- 
ried a  plurality  of  wives.  Because  the  men  of  the  Most  An- 
cient Church  in  their  marriages  represented  the  celestial 
marriage,  conjugial  love  was  to  them  a  kind  of  heaven  and 
a  heavenly  happiness."     (A.  C.  162.) 

"The  people  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  above  all  on 
this  earth  lived  in  genuine  conjugial  love,  because  they 
were  celestial,  were  in  truth  and  good,  and  were  in  the 
Lord's  kingdom  together  with  the  angels,  and  in  that  love 
they  possessed  heaven.  But  their  posterity,  with  whom 
the  Church  declined,  began  to  love  their  children  and  not 
their  consorts ;  and  children  can  be  loved  by  evil  persons,  but 
a  consort  can  be  loved  only  by  the  good."     (A.  C.  2730.) 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  people  of  the  Golden  Age 
loved  children  less  than  did  those  of  succeeding  ages ;  they 
loved  them  far  more  tenderly  and  intensely,  because  more 
delighted  with  innocence  than  were  later  generations;  but 
they  did  not  love  children  because  of  "their  own  flesh  and 
blood, ' '  but  because  they  beheld  in  them  so  many  new  angels 
for  the  Lord's  heavenly  kingdom.  Nevertheless,  the  love 
of  the  offspring  was  subordinate  to  the  one  supreme  love 
of  the  conjugial  partner,  for  this  love  exists  primarily  for 
its  own  sake,  inasmuch  as  the  conjugial  embrace  of  two  pure 
souls  is  in  itself  the  highest  of  all  uses ;  in  it  are  hidden 
eternal  salvation,  heaven,  conjunction  with  God. 

Thus  they  lived,  primeval  man  and  woman,  each  happy 
couple  in  an  everlasting  honey-moon,  too  deeply  enamoured 
with  each  other  to  permit  any  love  of  a  more  external  na- 
ture to  becloud  their  supreme  love.  The  thought  of  evil 
had  not  arisen, — fornification,  concubinage,  adultery,  di- 
vorce, polygamy,  things  such  as  these  were  unknown  and 
undreamed  of,  but  if  any  such  thing  should  have  been 


LIFE  IN  PABADISE.  97 

suggested  to  the  thought,  it  would  have  been  spurned  with 
the  utmost  horror  and  loathing.  (A.  C.  162;  A.  E.  988; 
De  Conjugio,  p.  32.) 

Living  as  they  did,  each  family  and  tribe  somewhat  re- 
mote from  others,  consanguinous  marriages  were  the  rule; 
they  contracted  marriage  ivitliin  their  houses  and  families, 
and  this  in  order  that  the  special  kind  of  love  and  percep- 
tion represented  by  each  house  and  tribe  might  be  preserved 
intact.  (A.  C.  483.)  The  reason  why  the  marriage  of 
close  blood  relations  was  forbidden  at  a  later  age  was  on 
account  of  hereditary  evil,  for  after  the  fall  each  family 
was  the  embodiment  of  some  particular  kind  of  evil  ten- 
dency which,  by  intermarriages,  was  increased  in  intensity 
until  finally  such  a  family,  in  the  Divine  Providence,  be- 
came extinct, — as  witness,  for  instance,  the  results  of  the 
intermarriages  of  the  Austrian  and  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs. 
But  by  outside  marriages  the  offspring  inherits  various 
evil  tendencies,  some  of  which, — such  as  prodigality  on  the 
one  hand  and  avarice  on  the  other, — counter-balance  each 
other,  and  thus  preserve  the  freedom  of  the  subject.  In 
the  Most  Ancient  Church,  however,  the  offspring  inherited 
not  evil  but  good  tendencies,  and  the  accumulation  of  such 
good  could  result  only  in  what  was  better  and  better. 

Of  this  crowning  conjugial  glory  of  the  Golden  Age  the 
men  of  to-day  can  form  but  the  faintest  conception,  but 
from  the  Doctrine  revealed  to  the  New  Church  we  know 
that  with  the  people  of  that  Age  conjugial  love  was  chastity 
itself,  innocence  itself,  and  wisdom  itself ;  in  their  marriage 
they  found  peace  and  tranquility,  inmost  friendship,  con- 
fidence, blessing,  satisfaction  and  joy,  and  from  the  eternal 
fruition  of  all  these,  they  had  happiness  of  life. 

Lost  for  thousands  upon  thousands  of  years  in  the  dark 
ages  of  sin,  this  most  precious  jewel  of  human  life,  this  love 
truly  conjugial,  will  be  restored,  so  we  are  promised,  to  that 
new  Golden  Age  which  shall  not  pass  away, — the  Church  of 
the  New  Jerusalem. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  HEAVEN  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  Most  Ancient  Heaven. 

Having  lived  a  heavenly  life  while  on  earth,  the  men  of 
the  Most  Ancient  Church,  when  passing  in  painless  slumber 
from  their  earthly  existence,  simply  passed  from  the  Para- 
dise on  earth  into  the  greater  glories  of  the  eternal  Paradise. 

The  heaven  which  they  formed  is  one  and  the  same  with 
what  we  know  as  the  celestial  heaven,  and  all  that  is  re- 
vealed in  the  Writings  concerning  the  celestial  angels  ap- 
plies chiefly  to  the  angels  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  for 
few  indeed  have  come  into  that  heaven  since  the  days  of 
the  Golden  Age.  A  new  celestial  heaven  will  in  time  be 
formed  from  those  of  the  New  Church  who  shall  attain 
celestial  perception,  but  it  will  be  distinct  from  the  heaven 
of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  which  is  as  it  were  closed, 
for  the  external  as  well  as  internal  conditions  which  pre- 
vailed in  that  age  constitute  a  chapter  that  is  finished  in 
the  history  of  our  race.     (N.  J.  4.) 

Concerning  this  heaven  of  the  Golden  Age  we  learn  the 
following  things  in  the  new  Revelation : 

"They  who  were  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church, — which 
was  called  Man,  or  Adam,  and  were  celestial  men, — are  very 
high  above  the  head,  and  dwell  together  there  in  the  great- 
est happiness.  They  said  that  others  rarely  come  to  them, 
except  at  times  a  few,  as  they  expresesd  it,  'from  the  uni- 
verse'; and  that  they  were  on  high  above  the  head,  not 
because  they  were  of  a  lofty  spirit,  but  in  order  that  they 
might  govern  those  who  are  there  [below  them].''  (A.  C. 
1115.) 

"There  was  shown  in  the  dwellings  of  those  who  were 
of  the  second  and  third  posterities  [or  ages]  of  this  Most 
Ancient  Church.     They  are  magnificent,   extending  to   a 

98 


TRE  HEAVEN  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  99 

great  length,  and  diversified  with  beautiful  colors  of  royal 
purple  and  azure  blue.  For  the  angels  have  most  mag- 
nificent dwellings,  such  as  cannot  be  described,  as  I  have 
often  seen.  To  their  eyes,  so  real  is  the  appearance  that 
nothing  can  be  more  real.  .  .  .  They  live  in  an  aura,  so 
to  speak,  of  resplendent  pearly  light,  and  sometimes  of 
diamond-like  lustre."     (A.  C.  1116.) 

' '  I  have  heard  from  the  angels  that  those  who  lived  in  the 
most  ancient  ages,  live  at  this  day  in  the  heavens,  house  by 
house,  family  by  family,  and  nation  by  nation,  in  like  man- 
ner as  they  had  lived  on  earth,  and  that  scarcely  anyone 
of  a  house  is  absent.  The  reason  is  that  there  was  love 
truly  conjugial  with  them,  and  thence  their  offspring  in- 
herited inclinations  towards  the  conjugial  of  good  and 
truth,  and  were  easily  initiated  into  it  more  and  more 
interiorly  by  their  parents."  (C.  L.  205;  A.  C.  2732, 
2739.) 

These  celestial  angels  constitute  the  inmost  cortical  sub- 
stance in  the  great  brain  of  Heaven  as  a  Grand  Man,  but 
as  this  substance  is  not  only  in  the  head  but  throughout 
the  body  by  means  of  fibres  and  glands,  so  also  "the  an- 
gels from  the  Most  Ancient  Church  are  scattered  through- 
out the  heavens,  in  order  that  the  others  may  have  wis- 
dom." (S.  D.  5187.)  These  also  constitute  that  great 
Society  of  Heaven,  whose  love  and  worship  of  the  Lord  is 
expressed  in  the  one  name  of  Mi-cha-el,  ''Who  is  like  unto 
God  ^ ' '  and  whose  sublime  ministry  throughout  the  ages  has 
been  to  defend  against  the  assaults  of  hell  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Divine  of  the  Lord.     (A.  C.  5747;  A.  E.  735.) 

A  Visit  to  Their  Heaven. 

''Once  when  I  was  meditating  on  conjugial  love,"  writes 
Swedenborg,  "my  mind  was  seized  with  a  desire  to  know 
what  was  the  quality  of  that  love  with  those  who  lived 
in  the  Golden  Age,  and  what  it  was  afterwards  with  those 
who  lived  in  the  ages  following,  which  are  named  from 
silver,  copper,  and  iron.  And  because  I  knew  that  all  who 
lived  well  in  those  ages  are  in  the  heavens,  I  prayed  the 


100  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Lord  that  He  would  allow  me  to  speak  with  them  and  be  in- 
structed. 

' '  And  lo !  an  angel  stood  by  me  and  said,  '  I  am  sent  by 
the  Lord  to  be  your  guide  and  companion.  And  first  I 
will  guide  and  accompany  you  to  those  who  lived  in  the 
first  age  or  period  which  is  called  the  Golden  Age.'  And 
he  added,  'the  way  to  them  is  arduous.  It  lies  through 
a  dark  forest  which  no  one  can  pass  through  without  a 
guide  given  him  by  the  Lord.' 

"I  was  in  the  spirit  and  girded  myself  for  the  journey, 
and  we  turned  our  faces  toward  the  east;  and  as  we  went 
on  I  saw  a  mountain  whose  height  extended  above  the 
region  of  the  clouds.  We  passed  through  a  great  desert 
and  came  into  the  forest  which  the  angel  had  told  me  of, 
thick  with  various  kinds  of  trees  and  dark  by  reason  of 
their  density.  But  the  forest  was  intersected  by  many 
narrow  paths,  and  the  angel  said  that  so  many  were  the 
windings  of  error,  and  that  unless  the  eyes  were  opened 
by  the  Lord  to  see  olive  trees  encircled  with  vine  tendrils, 
and  the  steps  directed  from  olive  tree  to  olive  tree,  the  trav- 
eler would  wander  away  into  Tartarus  which  is  round  about 
at  the  sides.  Such  is  this  forest,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
guard  the  approach. 

"After  we  entered  the  forest  our  eyes  were  opened  and 
we  saw  here  and  there  olive  trees  encircled  with  vines  from 
which  hung  clusters  of  grapes  of  an  azure  color;  and  the 
olive  trees  were  arranged  in  perpetual  spirals,  so  that  we 
went  round  and  round  according  as  the  trees  came  into 
view.  At  length  we  saw  a  grove  of  lofty  cedars  and  sev- 
eral eagles  on  their  branches. 

"Seeing  this  the  angel  said,  'We  are  now  on  the  moun- 
tain not  far  from  its  summit.' 

' '  We  continued  on,  and  lo !  beyond  the  grove  a  circular 
plain  where  lambs  of  both  sexes  were  feeding,  which  were 
representative  forms  of  the  state  of  innocence  and  peace 
of  those  who  dwelt  upon  the  mountain.  Then  we  passed 
over  this  plain  and  behold!  tents  upon  tents  appeared  be- 
fore us  and  on  either  side,  many  thousands  in  number,  as 
far  as  eye  could  reach. 


TEE  HEAVEN  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  101 

"And  the  angel  said,  'Now  we  are  in  the  camp.  There 
is  the  army  of  the  Lord  Jehovah.  So  they  call  themselves 
and  their  habitations.  These  most  ancient  people,  when 
they  lived  in  the  world,  dwelt  in  tents,  wherefore  also  they 
dwell  in  them  now.  But  let  ns  bend  our  way  to  the  south, 
where  the  wiser  of  them  are,  that  we  may  meet  some  one 
with  whom  we  may  converse.' 

' '  As  we  went  on  I  saw  at  a  distance  three  boys  and  three 
girls  sitting  at  the  door  of  a  tent ;  but  as  we  came  near  they 
were  seen  to  be  men  and  women  of  middle  stature. 

''And  the  angel  said,  'All  the  inhabitants  of  this  moun- 
tain appear  from  a  distance  like  little  children  iDCcause 
they  are  in  a  state  of  innocence,  and  infancy  is  the  appear- 
ance of  innocence.' 

"On  seeing  us  the  men  ran  up  to  us  and  said,  'Whence 
are  you  ?  And  how  came  you  hither  ?  Your  faces  are  not 
of  the  faces  of  our  mountain.' 

"In  reply  the  angel  told  them  how  we  passed  through 
the  forest  and  the  reason  of  our  coming.  Hearing  this  one 
of  the  three  men  invited  and  introduced  us  into  his  tent. 
The  man  was  clothed  with  a  mantle  the  color  of  hyacinth 
and  a  tunic  Of  white  wool;  and  his  wife  with  a  flowing 
robe  of  crimson,  and  under  it  a  tunic  about  the  breast  of 
fine  linen  embroidered.  And  because  in  my  thought  was 
the  desire  to  learn  about  the  marriages  of  the  most  ancient 
people,  I  looked  by  turns  at  the  husband  and  the  wife,  and 
observed  as  it  were  the  unity  of  their  souls  in  their  faces. 

"And  I  said,  'You  two  are  one.' 

"The  man  replied,  'We  are  one.  Her  life  is  in  me  and 
mine  in  her.  We  are  two  bodies  but  one  soul.  The  union 
between  us  is  as  that  of  the  two  tabernacles  in  the  breast 
which  are  called  the  heart  and  the  lungs.  She  is  my  heart 
and  I  am  her  lungs.  But  because  by  the  heart  we  here 
mean  love  and  by  the  lungs  wisdom,  she  is  the  love  of  my 
wisdom  and  I  am  the  wisdom  of  her  love.  Therefore  her 
love  from  without  veils  my  wisdom,  and  my  wisdom 
is  inwardly  in  her  love.  Thence  there  is,  in  our  faces, 
as  you  have  said,  an  appearance  of  the  unity  of  our 
souls. ' 


102  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

* '  I  then  asked,  '  If  such  is  the  union,  can  you  look  at  any- 
other  woman  than  your  own  ? ' 

"He  replied,  'I  can;  but  as  my  wife  is  united  to  my 
soul,  we  two  look  together,  and  then  nothing  of  lust  can 
enter.  For  when  I  look  at  the  wives  of  others  I  look  at 
them  through  my  wife  whom  alone  I  love.  And  because 
she,  my  own,  has  a  perception  of  all  my  inclinations,  she 
as  an  intermediate  directs  my  thoughts,  and  removes  every- 
thing discordant,  and  at  the  same  time  imparts  a  cold  and 
horror  of  everything  unchaste.  Wherefore  it  is  as  impos- 
sible for  us  here  to  look  from  lust  upon  the  wife  of  a  com- 
panion as  it  is  to  look  from  the  shade  of  Tartarus  at  the 
light  of  our  heaven.  With  us  therefore  there  is  no  idea  of 
thought,  still  less  any  word  of  language,  for  the  allure- 
ments of  libidinous  love.'  He  could  not  utter  the  word 
'  whoredom, '  for  the  chastity  of  their  heaven  strove  against 
it. 

' '  The  angel  guide  said  to  me,  '  You  hear  now  the  speech 
of  the  angels  of  this  heaven  that  it  is  the  language  of  wis- 
dom; for  they  speak  from  causes.' 

"After  this  I  looked  about  and  saw  their  tent  as  if  over- 
laid with  gold,  and  asked,  'Whence  is  this?' 

"He  replied,  'It  is  from  the  flaming  light  which,  like 
gold,  glitters  and  casts  forth  rays  and  tinges  the  curtains 
of  our  tent  when  we  are  in  conversation  about  conjugial 
love.  For  then  the  heat  from  our  Sun,  which  in  its  es- 
sence is  love,  unveils  itself  and  tinges  the  light,  which  in  its 
essence  is  wisdom,  with  its  own  color  which  is  golden.  And 
this  takes  place  because  conjugial  love  in  its  origin  is  the 
play  of  wisdom  and  love ;  for  the  man  is  bom  that  he  may 
be  wisdom;  and  the  woman  that  she  may  be  the  love  of 
the  man's  wisdom.  Thence  are  the  delights  of  that  sport 
in  conjugial  love,  and  from  it  the  delights  between  us  and 
our  wives.  We  here  for  thousands  of  years  have  seen 
clearly  that  those  delights,  as  to  abundance,  degree,  and 
vigor,  are  superlative  and  eminent,  according  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Lord  Jehovih  with  us,  from  whom  inflows  the 
heavenly  union,  or  the  heavenly  marriage,  which  is  of  love 
and  wisdom.' 


TBE  HEAVEN  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  103 

''As  these  words  were  said  I  saw  a  great  light  upon  a 
hill  in  the  midst  among  the  tents,  and  asked,  'Whence  is 
that  light.' 

' '  He  replied,  '  It  is  from  the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacle 
of  our  worship.' 

"And  I  asked  whether  it  was  lawful  to  approach  it.  He 
said  it  was;  and  I  went  and  saw  the  tabernacle,  without 
and  within  exactly  like  the  tabernacle  which  was  built  for 
the  sons  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  the  pattern  of  which 
was  shown  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.  (Exod.  25:40;  26: 
30.) 

"And  I  asked,  'What  is  within  in  the  holy  place  from 
whence  comes  so  great  a  light  ? ' 

"He  replied,  'There  is  a  tablet  on  which  is  the  inscrip- 
tion. The  Covenant  Between  Jehovah  and  the  Hea\^n.  ' 
He  said  no  more. 

"And  then  because  we  were  ready  to  depart  I  asked, 
'Did  any  of  you  while  you  lived  in  the  natural  world  live 
with  more  than  one  wife. ' 

' '  He  answered  that  he  knew  not  one :  '  For  we  could  not 
think  of  more.  Those  who  had  thought  of  more  have  told 
us  that  instantly  the  heavenly  blessedness  of  their  souls 
withdrew  from  the  inmosts  even  to  the  extremities  of  their 
bodies,  even  to  the  toe-nails,  and  with  it  at  the  same  time 
the  honorable  badges  of  manhood.  When  this  was  per- 
ceived they  were  expelled  from  our  districts.' 

' '  Having  said  this  the  man  ran  to  his  tent  and  returned 
with  a  pomegranate,  in  which  there  was  an  abundance  of 
seeds  of  gold;  and  he  gave  it  to  me  and  I  brought  it  away 
as  a  sign  that  we  had  been  with  those  who  lived  in  the 
Golden  Age.  And  then  after  a  salutation  of  peace  we  de- 
parted and  returned  home."     (Conjugial  Love,  78.) 

The  Beauty  of  their  Love. 

"One  morning  I  was  looking  up  to  heaven  and  beheld 
above  me  expanse  above  expanse;  and  I  saw  the  first  and 
nearest  expanse  opening,  and  then  the  second  which  was 
higher,  and  finally  the  third  and  highest.     And  by  light 


104  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

thence  I  perceived  that  upon  the  first  expanse  were  the 
angels  who  form  the  first  or  lowest  heaven ;  upon  the  second 
expanse  those  who  form  the  second  or  middle  heaven ;  and 
upon  the  third  expanse  those  who  form  the  third  or  highest 
heaven.  At  first  I  wondered  what  this  was,  and  why.  But 
presently  a  voice  as  of  a  trumpet  was  heard  from  heaven, 
saying : 

"  'We  have  perceived  that  your  are  meditating  on  con- 
jugial  love ;  and  we  know  that  as  yet  no  one  on  earth  knows 
what  love  truly  conjugial  is  in  its  origin  and  in  its  essence ; 
and  yet  it  is  important  that  it  should  be  known.  Where- 
fore it  has  pleased  the  Lord  to  open  the  heavens  to  you, 
that  light  and  thence  perception  may  flow  into  the  in- 
teriors of  your  mind.  With  us  in  the  heavens,  espe- 
cially in  the  third  heaven,  heavenly  delights  are  chiefly 
from  conjugial  love.  Wherefore  by  leave  given  us  we 
will  send  down  to  you  a  married  pair  that  you  may  see 
them. ' 

"And  lo!  a  chariot  appeared  descending  from  the  high- 
est or  third  heaven,  in  which  one  angel  was  seen ;  but  as  it 
approached  two  were  seen  therein.  In  the  distance  the 
chariot  glittered  like  a  diamond  before  my  eyes,  and  young 
horses  were  harnessed  to  it,  white  as  snow;  and  they  that 
sat  in  the  chariot  held  two  turtle  doves  in  their  hands. 
And  they  called  to  me,  saying: 

"  'You  wish  us  to  come  nearer!  But  have  a  care  then 
that  the  glittering  and  flaming  light  from  the  heaven 
whence  we  have  descended,  does  not  penetrate  too  far 
within  you.  By  the  influx  of  this  light  the  higher  ideas  of 
your  understanding — which  in  themselves  are  celestial — 
are  indeed  illustrated;  but  in  the  world  in  which  you  are 
these  things  are  ineffable.  Therefore  receive  rationally 
what  you  are  about  to  hear,  and  so  explain  it  that  it  may 
be  understood.' 

' '  I  answered,  '  I  will  take  heed ;  come  nearer. ' 

"And  they  came,  and  behold,  it  was  a  husband  and  his 
wife. 

"And  they  said,  'We  are  married  partners.  From  the 
first  age,  called  by  you  the  Golden  Age,  we  have  lived 


TRE  HEAVEN  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  105 

blessed  in  heaven;  and  always  in  the  same  flower  of  youth 
in  which  you  see  us  to-day. ' 

"I  observed  them  both  attentively,  for  I  perceived  that 
they  represented  conjugial  love  in  its  very  life  and  beauty : 
in  its  life  in  their  faces,  and  in  its  beauty  in  their  apparel. 
For  all  angels  are  affections  of  love  in  human  form;  their 
ruling  affection  shines  forth  from  their  faces,  and  from 
their  affection  and  in  harmony  with  it  their  garments  are 
given  to  them.  It  is  therefore  said  in  heaven  that  every 
one  is  clothed  in  his  own  affection.  The  husband  appeared 
to  be  of  an  age  midway  between  youth  and  early  man- 
hood. From  his  eyes  beamed  forth  a  light  sparkling  from 
the  wisdom  of  love ;  his  face  was  as  if  inmostly  radiant  from 
this  light,  and  by  the  irradiation  from  it  there  was  a  trans- 
fulgence  in  his  very  skin,  so  that  his  whole  face  was  one 
resplendent  comeliness.  He  was  clothed  in  a  long  robe 
that  reached  to  his  ankles,  and  beneath  the  robe  was  a 
vestment  of  blue,  girded  with  a  golden  girdle  on  which  were 
three  precious  stones,  a  sapphire  at  each  side  and  in  the 
middle  a  carbuncle.  His  hosen  were  of  shining  linen  inter- 
woven with  threads  of  silver;  and  his  shoes  were  of  silk. 
Such  was  the  representative  form  of  conjugial  love  with 
the  husband. 

* '  But  with  the  wife  it  was  this :  I  saw  her  face  and  yet 
did  not  see  it.  I  saw  it  as  beauty  itself,  and  did  not  see  it 
because  it  was  inexpressible.  For  there  was  a  splendor  of 
flaming  light  in  her  face,  such  light  as  is  with  the  angels 
of  the  third  heaven,  and  it  dimmed  my  sight,  so  that  I  was 
dumb  with  amazement.  Observing  this  she  spoke  to  me, 
saying : 

''  'What  do  you  see?' 

''I  answered,  'I  see  nothing  but  conjugial  love  and  the 
form  thereof.     But  I  see  and  yet  do  not  see.' 

''At  this  she  turned  herself  partly  away  from  her  hus- 
band and  then  I  was  able  to  observe  her  more  intently. 
Her  eyes  sparkled  with  the  light  of  her  heaven,  which  as 
was  said  is  flaming,  and  therefore  flows  from  the  love  of 
wisdom.  For  in  that  heaven  wives  love  their  husbands 
from  their  wisdom  and  in  their  wisdom ;  and  husbands  love 


106  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

their  wives  from  and  in  that  love  toward  themselves — and 
thus  they  are  united.  From  this  was  her  beauty  which  was 
such  as  no  painter  could  endeavor  to  equal  and  portray  in 
its  form;  for  there  is  no  such  luster  in  his  color,  nor  any 
such  beauty  expressible  by  his  art.  Her  hair  was  grace- 
fully arranged  in  correspondence  with  her  beauty,  and 
there  were  flowers  inserted  in  it  in  the  form  of  diadems. 
She  wore  a  necklace  of  carbuncles,  and  pendent  from  this 
a  rosary  of  chrysolites,  and  she  had  bracelets  of  large 
pearls.  She  was  arrayed  in  a  flowing  robe  of  scarlet,  and 
under  this  she  wore  a  breast  covering  of  purple  clasped  in 
front  with  rubies.  But,  what  was  a  marvel  to  me,  the  col- 
ors varied  according  to  her  aspect  toward  her  husband, 
and  also  according  to  this  they  were  now  more  now  less 
glittering, — more  when  they  mutually  turned  toward  each 
other,  and  less  when  they  were  partly  turned  from  each 
other. 

' '  When  I  had  seen  these  things  they  spoke  with  me  again, 
and  when  the  husband  was  speaking  he  spoke  as  if  at  the 
same  time  from  his  wife;  and  when  the  wife  was  speaking 
she  spoke  as  if  at  the  same  time  from  her  husband;  for 
such  was  the  union  of  their  minds  whence  the  speech  flowed. 
Then  I  heard  also  the  sound  of  conjugial  love,  that  it  was 
inwardly  simultaneous  with,  and  also  proceeding  from,  the 
delights  of  a  state  of  peace  and  innocence. 

"At  length  they  said,  'We  are  recalled.  We  must  de- 
part.' 

"And  then  again  they  appeared  to  ride  in  a  chariot  as 
before,  and  were  carried  along  a  paved  way  among  gardens 
of  flowers,  with  olive  trees  and  orange  trees  laden  with 
fruit ;  and  as  they  drew  near  their  heaven  yoimg  girls  came 
out  to  meet  them,  and  received  and  led  them  in."  (Con- 
jugial LovE^  42.) 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  Origin  of  Evil. 

We  have  followed  the  sun  of  the  Golden  Age  from  its 
first  rising  in  the  infancy  of  mankind  to  its  full  zenith  of 
celestial  love  and  faith  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  We  must 
now  follow  it  also  as  it  begins  its  downward  course  amidst 
gathering  clouds,  until  it  sinks  beyond  the  horizon  in  the 
terrible  night  of  the  universal  deluge.  The  Conflict  of  the 
Ages  is  before  us.     How  did  it  arise? 

On  this  subject  we  must  learn,  first  of  all,  that  ''Good 
IS  from  creation,  but  not  evil;  and  yet  evil  in  itself  re- 
garded is  not  a  nothing,  although  it  is  a  nothing  of  good. 
From  creation  good  existed,  and  also  good  in  the  greatest 
degree  and  in  the  least  degree ;  when  this  least  of  good  be- 
comes nothing  of  good,  then  evil  arises  on  the  other  hand. 
There  is,  therefore,  neither  a  relation  nor  a  progression  of 
good  to  evil,  but  there  is  a  relation  of  good  to  greater  good 
and  to  lesser  good,  and  there  is  a  relation  of  evil  to  greater 
evil  and  to  lesser  evil,  for  good  and  evil  are  opposites  in  all 
and  single  respects."     (C.  L.  444.) 

How,  then,  could  evil  arise,  since  nothing  but  good  ex- 
isted from  creation?  In  order  that  anything  may  exist,  it 
must  have  an  origin.  Good  cannot  be  the  origin  of  evil, 
since  evil  is  the  nothing  of  good,  being  the  privative  and 
the  destructive  of  good.  Still,  since  it  exists  and  can  be 
felt,  it  is  not  a  nothing,  but  is  something.  Whence,  then, 
can  this  something  exist  on  the  other  side  of  the  nothing? 

Thus,  once  upon  a  time,  two  angels  from  the  heaven  of 
innocence  queried  of  Swedenborg,  and  the  inspired  servant 
of  the  Lord  answered  as  follows : 

' '  This  arcanum  cannot  be  opened  unless  it  be  known  that 
no  one  is  good  hut  God  alone,  and  that  there  is  not  any- 

107 


108  TKE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

thing  good  that  is  good  in  itself  except  from  God.  And 
therefore  the  man  who  looks  to  God  and  is  willing  to  be 
led  by  God,  is  in  good;  but  he  who  turns  himself  away 
from  God  and  wants  to  be  led  by  himself,  is  not  in  good, 
for  the  good  which  he  does  is  either  for  the  sake  of  him- 
self or  for  the  sake  of  the  world,  and  thus  it  is  either 
meritorious,  or  simulated,  or  hypocritical.  Hence  it  is 
manifest  that  man  himself  is  the  origin  of  evil, — not  that 
this  origin  was  from  creation  inherent  in  man,  but  that  he 
himself  has  implanted  it  in  himself  by  turning  from  God 
to  himself." 

But  the  two  angels  then  asked:  ''How  was  man  able  to 
turn  himself  away  from  God  and  to  himself,  when  yet  he 
is  not  able  to  will,  think  or  do  anything  except  from  God? 
AVhy  did  God  permit  thisT' 

And  Swedenborg  answered :  ' '  Man  w^as  so  created  that  all 
that  he  wills,  thinks  and  does,  appears  to  him  as  if  it  were 
in  himself  and  thus  from  himself.  Without  this  appear- 
ance man  would  not  be  man,  for  he  could  not  then  receive, 
retain,  and  thus,  as  it  were,  appropriate  to  himself  any- 
thing of  good  and  truth  or  of  love  and  wisdom.  Hence  it 
follows  that  without  this  appearance, — this,  as  it  were,  liv- 
ing appearance, — man  could  have  no  conjunction  with  God, 
and  thus  could  not  have  eternal  life.  But  if  from  this 
appearance  he  induces  upon  himself  the  belief  that  he 
wills,  thinks,  and  does  what  is  good,  from  himself,  and  not 
from  the  Lord — though  to  all  appearance  from  himself, — 
he  then  turns  good  into  evil  with  himself,  and  thus  in  him- 
self he  makes  the  origin  of  evil.  This  was  the  sin  of  Adam. ' ' 
(C.  L.  444.) 

With  these  universal  truths  in  mind,  we  may  now  trace 
the  gradual  descent  of  the  race  from  celestial  good  to  actual 
evil. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Decline. 

In  the  sacred  history  we  find  the  first  suggestion  as  to  a 
change  for  the  worse  in  the  following  words: 

^' And  Jehovah  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  man  should 
he  alone;  I  will  make  him  a  help  as  with  him."  (Gen.  2: 
18.) 


TEE  DECLINE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  109 

It  is  evident  that  these  words  do  not  refer  to  the  actual 
creation  of  woman  as  the  help-mate  of  man,  for  she  was  cre- 
ated simultaneously  with  man:  ''Male  and  female  created 
He  them.''  The  text,  therefore,  refers  to  something  else, 
something  new,  which  is  introduced  by  the  words:  "It  is 
not  good." 

In  the  literal  sense  it  sounds  as  if  this  new  thing  was 
created  by  Jehovah  God,  but  it  is  so  written  in  accommoda- 
tion to  the  belief  of  fallen  man  that  all  his  misfortunes 
come  from  an  angry  God.  In  the  internal  sense,  however, 
these  words  describe  a  growing  inclination  among  some  in 
the  Most  Ancient  Church  to  dwell  no  longer  alone  with 
God  as  their  only  help,  but  to  put  their  trust  instead  in 
their  own  guidance.  In  the  language  of  the  Writings: 
"they  began  to  desire  a  proprium," — a  self -life, — and,  as 
the  man  of  this  generation  was  still  on  the  whole  well  dis- 
posed, a  "proprium"  was  granted,  but  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  appeared  as  it  were  his  own,  and  therefore  it  is  said 
"a  help  as  with  him."     (A.  C.  140.) 

This  concession,  however,  was  accompanied  with  every 
needed  warning  and  instruction,  which  are  described  by 
Jehovah  God's  bringing  to  the  man  every  kind  of  beast  and 
fowl  for  the  man  to  name  them.  By  this  is  meant  that 
man  was  instructed  as  to  the  "name"  or  quality  of  every 
celestial  and  spiritual  affection.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this 
knowledge,  he  still  inclined  to  a  proprium,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  this  desire  the  man  fell  into  "a  deep  sleep,"  a 
stupor  as  to  heavenly  things. 

Jehovah  God  then  "took  one  of  the  man's  ribs,  and  closed 
up  the  flesh  in  the  place  thereof.  But  the  rih  which  He 
had  taken  from  the  man  He  built  into  a  woman,  and  brought 
her  to  the  man."     (Gen.  2:21,  22.) 

By  "the  rib,"  as  a  bone  close  to  the  heart,  is  signified 
that  which  is  the  lowest  in  man's  nature,  yet  dearest  to 
him.  This,  with  a  decadent  man,  is  his  "amour  propre" 
or  proprium,  which,  "when  viewed  from  heaven,  appears 
as  something  that  is  altogether  bony,  inanimate,  and  very 
ugly,  consequently  as  being  in  itself  dead;  yet,  when  vivi- 
fied by  the  Lord,  it  looks  like  flesh.     For  a  man 's  proprium 


110  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

is  a  mere  dead  thing,  although  to  him  it  appears  as  some- 
thing,— indeed,  as  everything.  Whatever  lives  in  him  is 
from  the  Lord's  life,  and  if  this  were  withdra\\Ti  he  would 
fall  do^vn  as  dead  as  a  stone;  for  man  is  only  an  organ 
of  life,  and  such  as  is  the  organ,  such  is  the  life 's  affection. ' ' 
(A.  C.  149.) 

This  dead  rib,  this  proprium,  was  "built"  into  a  living 
"woman"  and  was  brought  to  the  man.  To  "build"  sig- 
nifies to  instruct,  to  raise  up  that  which  has  fallen,  and  a 
"woman"  signifies,  and  is,  a  living  affection.  That  gener- 
ation or  posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  in  whom 
the  great  change  took  place,  "did  not,  like  their  parents, 
wish  to  be  celestial  men,  but  they  wished  to  be  under  their 
own  guidance ;  and  therefore,  inclining  as  they  did  to  their 
proprium,  a  propriiun  was  granted  to  them,  but  still  a 
proprium  vivified  by  the  Lord,  and  therefore  called  a 
'woman,'  and  afterguards  a  'wife.'     (A.  C.  151.) 

"It  requires  but  little  attention  for  anyone  to  discern 
that  woman  was  not  formed  out  of  the  rib  of  a  man,  and 
that  deeper  arcana  are  here  implied  than  any  person  has 
been  aware  of.  But  that  by  the  '  woman '  is  signified  man 's 
proprium  may  be  knowTi  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the 
'woman'  who  was  deceived;  for  nothing  ever  deceives  man 
but  his  proprium,  or,  what  is  the  same,  the  love  of  self  and 
the  love  of  the  world."     (A.  C.  152.) 

By  the  rib  being  taken  out  of  the  man  and  built  into  a 
woman  is  meant,  therefore,  that  the  Lord,  in  His  mercy, 
while  permitting  the  man  to  have  and  to  love  a  proprium, 
yet  removed  it  from  the  man  so  that  he  should  not  love  it 
directly  in  himself,  but  in  others  outside  of  himself.  That 
is.  He  permitted  the  man  to  turn  from  the  highest  good, 
the  love  of  God,  to  a  good  somewhat  lower, — the  love  of  the 
neighbor.  This  lower  good  is  the  "vivified  proprium"  sig- 
nified by  the  "woman." 

What  this  means  may  be  seen  exemplified  in  the  life  of 
every  man  who  is  happily  married.  The  "rib"  with  him 
is  the  self-conceit  or  love  of  his  o^vn  intelligence  which  is 
actually  "taken  out  of  him"  when  the  wife  becomes  the 
love  of  his  wisdom.     Instead  of  loving  it  in  himself  he 


THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  \\\ 

then  loves  it  in  her,  and  thus  the  love  of  self  is  turned  into 
eonjugial  love,  which  is  the  most  intimate  form  of  the  love 
of  the  neighbor.  Of  this  transformation,  however,  the 
husband  is  as  unconscious  as  was  Adam  in  his  "deep 
sleep." 

That  this  first  declining  posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  turned  from  the  purely  celestial  state  of  their  an- 
cestors, is  involved  in  the  words:  "Therefore  shall  a  man 
^ leave'  his  father  and  his  mother  and  shall  cleave  unto  his 
wife;''  but  that  they  were  still  in  the  good  of  innocence  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  "they  were  both  naked,  the  man 
and  his  wife,  and  were  not  ashamed."  For  this  genera- 
tion "was  not  evil,  but  was  still  good;  and  because  they 
desired  to  live  in  the  external  man,  or  in  their  proprium, 
this  was  permitted  them  by  the  Lord,  but  that  which  is 
spiritual-celestial  was  mercifully  insinuated  therein."  (A. 
C.  161.)  This  "insinuation  of  good"  into  the  human 
proprium  "may  be  observed  in  little  children,  in  whom 
what  is  evil  and  false  is  not  merely  concealed,  but  is  even 
pleasing,  so  long  as  they  love  their  parents  and  one  another, 
and  their  infantile  innocence  shows  itself."     (A.  C.  164.) 

Conditions  of  the  ' '  First  Posterity.  ' ' 

It  will  be  noticed  that  it  is  everywhere  said  in  the  Ar- 
cana CcELESTiA  that  the  decline  began  with  "the  first 
posterity"  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  and  not  with  the 
celestial  men  themselves  of  that  Church.  They  could  not 
fall  or  begin  to  desire  a  life  of  self-guidance,  for  they  had 
reached  that  Sabbath  state  of  regeneration  when  doubts 
or  temptations  can  no  longer  assail. 

There  were,  however,  six  days  of  creation,  six  general 
states  preceding  the  state  of  perfect  peace.  The  degree  of 
regeneration  attainable  by  any  one  was  a  matter  of  indi- 
vidual choice.  Each  one  was  kept  in  a  perfect  freedom 
of  choice  between  lesser  goods,  higher  goods,  and  the  high- 
est. No  one  was  compelled  to  "dwell  alone"  with  the  Lord 
as  his  only  ruling  love,  but  was  free  to  choose  and  remain 
in  lower  loves,  if  he  so  wished.     And  some,  as  is  known 


112  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

preferred  the  lower,  though,  able  to  perceive  the  higher 
goal  and  able  also  to  reach  it  if  they  had  so  wished. 

Of  this  character  was  this  "first  posterity"  with  whom 
the  decline  began, — a  generation  of  men  endowed  with  all 
the  good  tendencies  of  celestial  ancestors,  and  fully  in- 
structed in  all  the  truths  of  their  fathers,  and  thus  com- 
pletely responsible  for  their  choice  and  actions.  For  such 
persons  to  turn  from  the  highest  good  to  a  lower  good  was 
to  enter  upon  a  downward  course;  it  was,  indeed,  the  be- 
ginning of  evil.  To  illustrate:  a  good  man  loves  his  fam- 
ily, his  community,  his  countrj',  and  his  Church,  and  he 
knows  that  in  serving  the  highest  uses  he,  at  the  same  time, 
serves  the  best  interests  of  all  the  lower  ones.  If,  then,  he 
were  to  exclude  from  his  heart  the  love  of  the  Lord's 
eternal  cause  in  order  to  devote  his  life  entirely  to  the  in- 
terests of  his  country,  such  a  choice  would  be  essentially 
evil,  even  though  the  love  of  the  country  is  in  itself  a  noble 
love.  And  it  would  be  the  same  if  he  preferred  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community  to  the  good  of  the  countrj^  or  the 
family  to  the  community.  Any  deliberate  lowering  of  the 
highest  standard  of  good  is  a  betrayal  of  that  standard:  it 
is  evil  for  a  man  to  do  so,  even  though  the  lower  degree 
of  good  which  he  chooses  to  prefer  is  in  itself  an  actual 
good. 

Why,  then,  did  this  "first  posterity"  of  the  Most  An- 
cient Church  deliberately  choose  the  lower  good  of  love  to 
the  neighbor  instead  of  the  highest  good  of  love  to  the 
Lord?  We  may  ask  in  return.  Why  does  any  man  who 
knows  the  better,  choose  the  worse?  We  may  ascribe  it  to 
weakness  of  the  flesh,  surrounding  circumstances  and  in- 
fluences, and  what  not,  but  within  his  heart  every  rational 
man  I'nows  that  no  one  is  responsible  for  his  final  choice 
but  he  himself.  As  long  as  he  is  rational  he  can  at  any 
moment  stop  his  hand  from  the  doing  of  an  evil  act,  if  he 
wills  to  stop.  Why,  then,  does  he  not  stop  it?  The  only 
answer  is.  Because  he  does  not  will  to  do  so !  The  affec- 
tion of  the  will  is,  like  woman,  beyond  the  reach  of  mere 
argument.  In  its  final  solution  the  question  is  not  one  for 
intellectual  discussion,  but  for  action  or  non-action,  and 


TRE  DECLINE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  113 

the  power  to  do  or  not  to  do  lies  in  the  hand  of  every 
one. 

Nevertheless,  though  this  is  true  beyond  any  peradven- 
ture  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  and  experience,  it  is  permissible 
to  discuss  contributory  causes,  such  as  environments,  cir- 
cumstances, and  suggestions  from  within  and  from  without. 
What,  then,  were  the  surrounding  conditions  that  contribu- 
ted to  the  fatal  choice  of  our  first  decadent  ancestors? 

We  enter,  here,  upon  a  field  of  speculations  and  sugges- 
tions which  should  be  taken  for  what  they  may  be  worth. 
First,  as  to  influences  from  within,  there  were  in  the  spirit- 
ual world  those  simple  and  ignorant  spirits  of  Preadamites 
who  had  passed  away  in  an  arrested  state  of  development, 
— arrested,  not  by  the  hand  of  God,  but  by  their  own  choice. 
From  the  beginning  there  were  those  who,  with  every  op- 
portunity to  advance,  did  not  care  to  progress  beyond  the 
first  threshold  of  the  regenerate  life.  These,  though  by  no 
means  evil,  carried  with  them  into  the  other  world  the  in- 
nocent but  fallacious  appearances  of  the  outer  senses,  and 
— chief  of  all — the  appearance  that,  since  man  is  a  free 
agent,  he  is  able  to  be  his  own  guide  and  master. 

From  such  sensuous  spirits,  then,  there  would  come  sug- 
gestions as  to  the  possibility  of  a  life  to  some  degree  de- 
pendent upon  self  rather  than  upon  the  Lord, — ^suggestions 
which  might  have  caused  certain  doubts  with  this  posterity, 
doubts  which  if  harbored  would  produce  a  state  of  obscur- 
ity like  the  ''deep  sleep"  into  which  Adam  fell. 

Besides  this  internal  influence  from  the  spiritual  world, 
there  may  have  been  also  certain  seductive  influences  from 
the  external  world.  In  its  very  first  infancy  the  race  pos- 
sessed and  required  very  few  externals  of  life.  But  as  age 
succeeded  age,  external  delights  were  added  to  internal 
blessings.  The  fund  of  external  knowledges  accumulated 
from  the  experiences  of  successive  generations,  and  to- 
gether with  these  the  inventions  of  external  comforts  and 
pleasures.  At  first  naked  as  newborn  children,  they  gradu- 
ally learned  to  make  garments,  erect  dwellings,  cook  their 
food,  tend  the  herd,  till  the  ground,  make  ornaments,  etc. 
In  all  this  there  was  nothing  wrong,  and  as  they  advanced 
8 


114  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

in  regeneration  they  learned  to  regard  these  delightful  ex- 
ternals as  ever  increasing  evidences  of  the  tender  mercy  of 
their  Heavenly  Father  toward  His  beloved  children. 

This  external  progress  of  ' '  civilization ' '  probably  reached 
its  highest  development  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  where  not 
only  the  Ancient  Church,  but  also  the  Most  Ancient,  at  one 
time  flourished.  History  seems  to  indicate  that  Egypt  was 
the  special  home  of  the  "serpent"  which  seduced  Eve. 

As  externals  multiplied,  their  attractions  increased,  and 
the  younger  generations  who  had  not  yet  reached  the  ce- 
lestial state  would  naturally  be  in  a  greater  danger  of  se- 
duction by  external  delights.  This  danger,  however,  was 
balanced  by  the  w^ise  teachings  of  the  older  generation 
whose  interior  wisdom  was  growing  in  a  corresponding  ra- 
tio. The  origin  of  evil,  therefore,  cannot  be  blamed  upon 
any  combination  of  overwhelming  circumstances  and  en- 
vironments. The  responsibility  and  the  blame  inmostly 
rest  upon  the  man  himself. 

The  Fall. 
"When  first  bom  a  man  consists  of  nothing  but  an  immortal 
soul  enclosed  in  a  little  lump  of  flesh  furnished  with  five 
peep-holes — called  the  senses — through  which  the  soul  looks 
out  into  the  world.  This  lump  of  flesh  is  his  bodily  or 
corporeal  degree,  wdthin  which,  through  the  observations 
of  the  senses,  there  is  gradually  born  a  next  interior  de- 
gree, called  the  sensual  or  sensuous  man.  Within  this, 
again,  as  the  man  begins  to  put  together  into  new  pictures 
the  various  sense-images  stored  in  the  memory,  there  is 
formed  still  another  degree  called  the  interior-sensual  or 
imaginative  degree,  and  within  this,  finally,  there  is  formed 
an  inmost  natural  degree  which  is  called  the  rational, — 
so  called  because  endowed  with  the  power  to  judge  of  the 
relations  between  the  various  sense-images.  To  illustrate: 
the  corporeal  babe  puts  his  finger  into  the  flame  of  a  can- 
dle; the  result  is  a  sensual  impression  w^hich  can  forever 
be  recalled  by  the  imagination,  and  the  budding  rational 
man  concludes  that  the  relation  between  the  finger  and  the 
flame  should  not  be  too  close. 


THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  115 

Now,  the  sensual,  being  next  to  the  corporeal,  is  in  it- 
self gross  and  low  and  next  to  the  ground,  and  hence  in  the 
figurative  language  of  the  ancients  it  was  compared  to  and 
even  called  a  "serpent."  In  the  Garden  of  Eden  this 
serpent  was  not  a  poisonous  serpent,  but  a  harmless  though 
lowly  animal,  created  by  God  Himself  and  gifted  with  a 
''subtleness" — i.  e.,  circumspection  and  prudence — beyond 
all  the  animals  of  the  field.  A  man  could  not  live  without 
a  sensual  degree,  and  every  perfect  man  should  be  wise  as  a 
serpent  and  yet  innocent  as  a  dove.  The  Lord  Himself 
possessed  such  a  sensual,  which  by  continual  victories  in 
temptation,  and  finally  by  the  passion  on  the  cross,  was 
glorified  and  made  Divine.  This  Divine  Sensual  is  what 
was  represented  by  the  Brazen  Serpent  in  the  wilderness. 

But  after  the  first  posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church 
had  begun  to  incline  to  the  sensual  and  listen  to  its  always 
more  or  less  fallacious  suggestions,  (for,  being  the  lowest 
it  was  always  the  least  perfect),  instead  of  listening  to  the 
voice  of  God  within  their  faculty  of  perception,  then  the 
serpent  began  to  be  a  dangerous  beast  which  infused  the 
-first  doubt  as  to  the  evil  of  eating  of  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil. 

This  suggestion  of  a  doubt  was  at  first  repelled,  as  is  evi- 
dent from  the  reply  of  the  woman:  "God  hath  said,  Ye 
shall  not  eat  of  it,  neither  shall  ye  touch  it,  lest  ye  die,'' 
for  there  was  still  with  them  from  instruction  and  percep- 
tion an  intuition  that  thus  all  wisdom  and  intelligence 
would  perish  among  them.  But  still  they  permitted  the 
doubt  to  recur:  "Ye  shall  not  surely  die.  For  God  doth 
know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  he 
opened,  and  ye  shall  he  as  God,  knowing  good  and  evil." 
These  words  describe  ' '  an  incipient  doubt  whether  it  might 
not  be  lawful  for  them"  to  investigate  spiritual  and  ce- 
lestial things  from  the  knowledges  of  worldly  things,  and 
thus  from  without,  a  posteriori,  instead  of  the  former 
method  of  receiving  these  things  from  Divine  Revelation 
and  perception,  and  thus  from  within,  a  priori,  "since 
thus  they  would  see  whether  the  things  they  had  heard 
from  their  forefathers  were  true,  and  so  their  eyes  would  be 


116  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

opened.  At  leng-th,  in  consequence  of  the  ascendency  of 
self-love,  they  began  to  think  that  they  could  lead  them- 
selves, and  thus  be  like  the  Lord ;  for  such  is  the  nature  of 
the  love  of  self  that  it  is  unwilling  to  submit  to  the  Lord's 
leading,  but  prefers  to  be  self-guided,  and — being  self- 
guided — ^to  consult  the  things  of  the  senses  and  of  science 
as  to  what  is  to  be  believed."     (A.  C.  205.) 

"Who  have  a  stronger  belief  that  their  eyes  are  opened, 
and  that  as  God  they  know  what  is  good  and  evil,  than 
those  who  love  themselves  and  at  the  same  time  excel  in 
worldly  learning?  And  yet  who  are  more  blind?  Only 
question  them,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  they  do  not  even 
know,  much  less  believe  in,  the  existence  of  spirit;  with 
the  nature  of  spiritual  and  celestial  life  they  are  utterly 
unacquainted ;  they  do  not  acknowledge  an  eternal  life ;  for 
they  believe  that  they  are  like  the  brutes  which  perish; 
neither  do  they  acknowledge  the  Lord,  but  worship  only 
themselves  and  nature.  Those  among  them  who  wish  to  be 
guarded  in  their  expressions  say  that  a  certain  Supreme 
Being,  (of  the  nature  of  whom  they  are  ignorant),  rules  all 
things.  These  are  the  principles  in  which  they  confirm 
themselves  in  many  ways  by  the  things  of  the  senses  and 
of  science,  and  if  they  dared  they  would  do  the  same  be- 
fore the  whole  world.  Although  such  persons  desire  to  be 
regarded  as  gods,  or  as  the  wisest  of  men,  if  they  were 
asked  whether  they  know  Avhat  it  is  not  to  have  anything 
of  their  own  [proprium],  they  would  answer  that  it  is  to 
have  no  existence,  and  that  if  they  were  deprived  of  every- 
thing that  is  their  own,  they  would  be  nothing.  If  they 
were  asked  what  it  is  to  live  from  the  Lord,  they  would 
think  it  is  a  phantasy.  If  asked  whether  they  know  what 
conscience  is,  they  would  say  it  is  a  mere  figment  of  the 
imagination  which  may  be  of  service  in  keeping  the  vulgar 
under  restraint.  If  asked  whether  they  know  what  per- 
ception is,  they  would  merely  laugh  at  it  and  call  it  en- 
thusiastic rubbish.  Such  is  their  wisdom,  such  'open  eyes' 
have  they,  and  such  'gods'  are  they!  Principles  like  these, 
which  they  think  to  be  clearer  than  day,  they  make  their 
starting  point,  and  so  they  continue,  and  in  this  way  they 


THE  DECLINE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  117 

reason  about  the  mysteries  of  faitli;  and  what  can  be  the 
result  but  an  abyss  of  darkness?  Such  persons  above  all 
others  are  the  'serpents'  who  seduce  the  world.  But  this 
posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  was  not  as  yet  of 
such  a  character."     (A.  C.  206.) 

Very  soon,  however,  the  woman  saw  that  the  tree  of  sci- 
ence was  ''good  for  food,  and  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  de- 
sirahle  for  making  one  wise,  and  she  took  of  the  fruit 
thereof  and  did  eat,  and  she  gave  also  to  her  husband  with 
her,  and  he  did  eat."  The  ''woman"  now  signifies  the 
perverted  will  deliberately  choosing  evil  instead  of  good, 
and  her  husband  eating  signifies  the  conscious  understand- 
ing consenting  to  the  fatal  deed.  And  then  "the  eyes  of 
both  of  them  were  opened,  and  they  knew  that  they  were 
naked."  They  Imew  from  a  remnant  of  perception  that 
they  were  no  longer  in  innocence,  as  before,  but  in  evil,  and 
therefore  they  "sewed  fig-leaves  together,  and  made  them- 
selves girdles";  that  is,  they  covered  their  shame  with  ex- 
cuses, specious  arguments  drawn  from  merely  natural  good. 
(For  the  fig-tree,  in  the  Word,  stands  for  natural  good,  even 
as  the  vine  stands  for  spiritual  good,  and  the  olive  for  ce- 
lestial good. )  As  every  fire  produces  its  own  light,  so  every 
evil  love  disguises  itself  in  truths  falsified,  truths  of  natural 
but  7iot  spiritual  good.  It  always  professes  to  have  some 
good  end  in  view,  some  altruistic  end  that  "justifies  the 
means." 

And  now  the  scene  changes.  The  heavenly  idyl  of  the 
Golden  Age  passes,  through  the  intermediate  stage  of  melo- 
drama, into  the  most  terrible  tragedy  this  world  has  ever 
witnessed. 

The  Curse  and  the  Promise. 

A  curse  was  now  pronounced  upon  the  serpent,  a  uni- 
versal curse  that  lasted  through  the  ages  until  the  coming 
of  the  "Seed  of  the  Woman."  The  Father  of  Mercy,  in- 
deed, curses  no  one,  but  the  race  cursed  itself  by  misusing 
every  Divine  blessing.  The  serpent,  or  the  sensual  plane 
of  life,  whch  formerly  had  not  been  evil  but  simply  the 
lowest  degree  of  good  with  man,  now  became  in  itself  in- 


118  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

f emal :  the  proprium  itself  becoming  the  seat  of  every  evil 
inclination  and  the  origin  of  every  false  persuasion.  It 
became  that  accursed  thing  which  henceforth  no  mortal 
man  can  ever  get  rid  of ;  he  may  by  regeneration  subdue  it, 
trample  it  under  his  feet,  cage  it  up  in  his  cellar,  but  even 
with  the  angel  this  poisonous  serpent  remains  in  the  cellar  as 
a  perpetual  reminder  that  in  himself — in  the  old  self  or 
proprium — the  angel  is  nothing  but  a  poor  miserable  sin- 
ner, impure  in  the  sight  of  God. 

The  "woman," — who  now  represents  the  fallen  Church 
as  a  whole, — was  henceforth  to  bring  forth  her  sons  in  sor- 
row; these  ''sons"  are  the  truths  or  thoughts  which  for- 
merly were  conceived  in  joy  by  the  celestial  perception; 
henceforth  such  conceptions  would  be  attended  with  the 
anxiety  of  doubts  and  the  combats  of  temptations.  And  no 
longer  was  the  faculty  of  the  ivUl  to  rule,  as  in  the  Golden 
Age  itself,  but  ''thine  ohedience  shall  he  to  thy  man,  and  he 
shall  ride  over  thee/'  (Gen.  3: 16),  for  henceforth  the  rem- 
nant of  rational  understanding  must  take  the  lead  in  order 
to  restrain  the  passions  of  the  perverted  will. 

And  the  "man,"  the  rational,  which  by  "hearkening" 
to  the  voice  of  the  woman  had  consented  to  the  choice  of 
evil,  was  now  cursed  by  its  o^^Tl  folly,  and  with  it  the  whole 
external  man,  signified  by  "the  ground." 

"Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake.  In  great  sorrow 
thou  shalt  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life.''  For  miserable 
henceforth  would  be  the  state  of  the  man  even  unto  the 
end  of  this  fallen  Church  and  of  all  fallen  Churches. 
"Thoriis  and  thistles  it  shall  bring  forth  unto  thee,  and 
thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field."  Evils  and  falsities 
alone  would  flourish  in  that  human  soil  which  once  had 
been  the  Garden  of  God,  and  man  would  return  to  the 
state  of  the  wild  beast  which  eats  the  herb  of  the  field, — 
not  the  gentle  and  innocent  animalism  of  the  Preadamites, 
but  a  state  of  ferocious  savagery. 

"hi  the  sweat  of  thy  face  thou  shalt  eat  bread."  This 
does  not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  mean  that  man  was  now 
first  condemned  to  the  "curse"  of  having  to  work  instead 
of  enjoying  an  indolent  and  useless  life  in  paradise.     The 


THE  DECLINE  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  HQ 

men  of  the  Golden  Age  were  l>usy  people,  profoundly  en- 
joying the  life  of  usefulness  in  the  service  of  God  and  the 
neighbor.  Work  is  never  in  itself  a  curse  but  a  blessing, 
and  a  bit  of  sweat  adds  only  spice  to  the  bread.  But  the 
"sweat"  to  which  the  perverted  descendant  of  this  Church 
was  condemned  was  the  sweat  of  the  criminal  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Law,  the  sweat  of  fear  and  aversion, — the 
radical  aversion  to  everything  true  and  good ;  for  ' '  bread ' ' 
is  the  universal  correspondent  of  all  that  is  good. 

^'For  dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return." 
This  signifies  the  death  of  the  Church,  and  the  eternal 
damnation  of  those  who  have  damned  themselves  while  on 
earth. 

Jehovah  God  now  "sent  the  man  forth  from  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  to  till  the  ground  from  which  he  was  taken." 
The  posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  was  deprived 
of  the  celestial  intelligence  and  wisdom  which  had  con- 
stituted their  paradise,  and  they  turned  to  the  cultivation 
of  a  merely  external  and  corporeal  life.  And  at  the  en- 
trance to  the  Garden  there  were  placed  "cherubim  and  the 
flame  of  a  sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way 
of  the  tree  of  life."  The  cherubim  were  figures  of  guard- 
ian angels,  such  as  were  also  placed  upon  the  mercy-seat 
over  the  ark,  to  signify  the  Providence  of  God  protecting 
His  Word.  This  Word,  in  its  internal  sense,  is  the  true 
Garden  of  Delights  in  which  all  spiritual  and  celestial 
blessings  lie  hidden,  but  there  is  a  Providence  which  keeps 
guard  over  this  internal  sense  lest  anyone  enter  into  it  to 
profane  it.  The  Divine  Love,  indeed,  bids  all  to  come  unto 
Him  in  His  Word,  but  if  a  man  should  approach  for  an 
evil  purpose,  from  the  love  of  self  and  of  the  world,  this 
evil  love  would  stand  in  the  way  like  the  flame  of  a  sword, 
so  that  he  could  not  perceive  the  way  to  the  tree  of  life ;  his 
mind,  in  the  Divine  Mercy,  is  carried  away  to  the  cor- 
poreal and  earthly  things  that  he  loves,  and  thus  he  is  kept 
from  that  deadliest  sin,  the  profanation  of  what  is  most 
holy,  the  "sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit."  There  is  but  one 
means  of  finding  the  way  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  that  is — 
Repentance. 


120  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


The  Hope  of  the  Ages. 


Thus  evil  arose  in  the  world,  and  from  this  original  sin 
of  disobedience,  (for  it  was  nothing  else),  came  all  that 
countless  brood  of  varied  evils  that  ever  since  have  cursed 
the  human  race.  Yet,  as  in  Pandora's  box,  one  blessing 
remained  amidst  the  swarm  of  ills,  and  that  blessing  was 
— Hope.  Before  mankind  had  totally  closed  against  it- 
self the  gates  of  Paradise,  a  Promise  was  given  which  for 
thousands  of  years  remained  the  sole  Hope  that  these  gates 
would  one  day  be  opened  again.  While  cursing  the  serpent, 
Jehovah  God  added:  "I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and 
the  woman,  aiid  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed;  He  shall 
trample  upon  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 
(Gen.  3:14.) 

"Every  one  is  aware  that  this  is  the  first  prophecy  of 
the  Coming  of  the  Lord  into  the  world ;  indeed,  it  appears 
clearly  from  the  words  themselves,  and  from  them  and  from 
the  prophets  even  the  Jews  knew  that  a  Messiah  was  to 
come."     (A.  C.  250.) 

Henceforth  there  was  to  be  an  unrelenting  enmity  and 
conflict  between  the  sensual  prOprium,  now  infernal,  and 
the  "seed  of  the  woman,"  that  is,  the  remnant  of  those  in 
the  Church  who  possessed  faith  in  the  Lord.  But  instead 
of  looking  back  to  the  memory  of  that  Lord  who  had  re- 
vealed Himself  as  a  Man  in  the  lost  days  of  the  Golden 
Age,  this  remnant  was  henceforth  to  look  forward  to  that 
same  Lord  who  in  the  fulness  of  time  was  to  come  upon 
the  earth  in  a  Manhood  taken  from  a  Virgin.  The  "seed 
of  the  serpent"  is  the  accumulated  power  of  all  the  hells, 
and  the  "seed  of  the  woman,"  in  the  supreme  Incarnation, 
is  "He"  who  in  the  human  thus  assumed  from  a  woman 
was  to  overcome  all  the  evil  inclinations  inherited  through 
her  from  all  the  generations  of  sinful  ancestors  since  the 
days  of  Adam. 

By  His  victories  over  all  evil  tendencies  in  His  human 
He  was  to  trample  upon  the  head  of  the  serpent,  conquer 
the  power  of  hell,  and  break  the  curse  that  rested  upon 
the  fallen  race,  for  if  One  had  conquered  and  broken  a 


TEE  DECLINE  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  121 

way  through  the  hells,  others  could,  by  following  in  His 
footsteps.  What  if  the  foot  was  "bruised"  in  the  combat! 
What  if  Achilles  was  shot  in  the  ''heel"  by  the  treacherous 
Trojan?  Achilles  was  killed,  but  lived  again,  and  his  death 
paved  the  way  for  the  final  victory  of  the  Greeks.  The 
Lord  also  was  vulnerable  in  His  ' '  heel, ' '  the  lowest  natural, 
for  it  was  into  the  sensuous  degree,  inherited  from  the  hu- 
man mother,  that  the  hells  could  enter  to  attack  Him,  to  be 
met  and  overcome.  He  was  but  "bruised"  when  this  low- 
est plane  was  nailed  to  the  cross,  for  He  arose  again  on  the 
third  day,  thenceforth  in  His  visible  Divine  Human  to 
judge  and  to  rule  over  the  quick  and  the  dead. 

This  promise  of  the  Coming  Redeemer  became  the  pivotal 
point  around  which  revolved  all  the  religions  of  the  ages 
succeeding  the  Golden  Age.  The  tradition  of  this  supreme 
Hope  was  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  in 
the  centuries  before  the  Flood,  and  was  finally  written 
down  in  a  book,  after  writing  was  invented,  lest  it  should 
be  lost  in  the  gathering  gloom,  the  impending  night  of  ut- 
ter infidelity,  barbarism  and  final  savagery.  This  book  was 
hidden  and  preserved  during  the  finally  ensuing  cataclysm 
of  the  Flood,  and  was  afterwards  restored  to  the  Church 
of  the  Silver  Age.  In  this  new  Church  the  Messianic 
prophecy  was  cherished  as  the  most  precious  inheritance 
of  mankind,  and  further  details  as  to  its  fulfillment  were 
added  in  the  numerous  succeeding  revelations.  Many  de- 
tails as  to  the  future  life  of  the  Messiah,  (from  His  birth 
in  Bethlehem  even  to  His  betrayal  for  thirty  pieces  of  sil- 
ver), were  prophetically  revealed  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
but  many  more  particulars  were  revealed  in  that  Ancient 
Word  which  was  lost  and  is  yet  to  be  found.  Fragments 
of  that  Ancient  Word,  however,  have  been  preserved  in 
all  the  ancient  mythologies  and  also  in  all  the  surviving 
heathen  religions,  and  in  all  of  them  the  IMessianic  proph- 
ecy figures  as  the  final  hope. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  AGE  OF  THE  PATRIARCHS. 

Cain  and  Abel. 

To  the  man  and  the  woman,  after  their  expulsion  from 
Eden,  there  were  born  two  sons,  whose  successive  births 
signify  the  separation  of  two  essential  principles  which 
heretofore  had  been  one.  The  first-bom  was  named  Cain, 
a  name  which  in  the  Hebrew  means  ''a  smith,"  from  the 
root  qoim,  "to  make  or  beat  into  form  by  hammering," 
and  he  was  so  named  because  the  generation  or  age  vvhich 
he  represents  loved  to  formulate, — ^to  beat  into  the  fixed 
shape  of  dogma, — the  truths  of  religion  which  they  had 
learned  from  their  ancestors.  ''Before  this  time  they  had 
not  known  what  faith  was,  because  there  had  been  with  them 
a  perception  of  all  the  things  of  faith.  But  when  they  be- 
gan to  make  a  distinct  doctrine  of  faith,  they  took  the 
things  of  which  they  had  a  perception  and  reduced  them 
into  doctrine,  calling  it:  'I  have  gotten  a  man,  Jehovah,' 
as  if  they  had  found  out  something  new;  and  thus  what 
was  formerly  inscribed  upon  the  heart  now  became  a  mat- 
ter of  the  memory."     (A.  C.  340.) 

Deplorable  as  was  this  descent  from  celestial  perception 
into  merely  intellectual  cognition,  this  Cain-doctrine  was  not 
so  bad  in  the  beginning,  while  there  was  still  some  sim- 
plicity in  it.  (A.  C.  347,  384.)  For  by  means  of  the 
knowledge  thus  acquired  there  was  bom  with  those  who 
acted  on  their  knowledge  a  degree  of  charity  to  the  neigh- 
bor which  is  represented  by  Abel,  the  younger  "brother." 
His  name,  {Hehel),  means  "a  light  breath,"  which  seems 
to  indicate  that  from  this  charity  there  could  still  be  with 
this  generation  a  remnant  of  internal  respiration  and  spirit- 
ual perception. 

In  the  ]\Iost  Ancient  Church  itself  these  two,  faith  and 
charity,  had  been  regarded  as  one  and  indivisible,  to  be 

122 


TEE  AGE  OF  TEE  PATEIAECES.  123 

distinguished  from  one  another  only  in  thought,  as  one  may- 
distinguish  between  substance  and  form,  neither  of  which 
is  anything  without  the  other.  But  subsequently,  when 
men  allowed  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  mere  appear- 
ances, they  began  not  only  to  distinguish,  but  actually  to 
separate,  in  their  life,  these  two  essentials  of  every  existing 
thing.  According  to  the  appearance,  truth  or  faith  is  the 
first  or  first-born,  because  a  man  must  k7iow  the  truth  be- 
fore he  can  live  according  to  it.  But  this,  after  all,  is  only 
an  appearance,  for  if  there  is  not  first  an  affection  or  hun- 
ger for  the  truth,  there  is  not  in  the  man  any  fruitful  soil 
to  receive  it,  but  the  seed  fall  upon  stony  ground.  This 
affection,  or  this  good  of  love,  is  therefore  actually  the  first, 
even  though  it  appears  as  if  the  works  of  charity — because 
according  to  the  teachings  of  faith — were  the  fruits  of  that 
faith. 

Being  misled  by  this  appearance,  the  first  decadent 
posterity  of  the  Golden  Age  began  to  regard  faith  as  the 
first-bom  or  first  in  importance,  and  they  therefore  began 
to  "till  the  ground,"  to  cultivate  doctrinal  matters  as  a 
separate  field  of  study.  They  still  regarded  charity  as  an 
essential  next  in  importance  to  faith,  and  still  permitted 
the  gentle  Abel,  or  charity,  to  pursue  his  peaceful  calling 
as  a  ''shepherd  of  the  flock." 

Nevertheless  the  lingering  perception  remained  that  the 
merely  intellectual  offerings  of  faith  could  not  be  as  ac- 
ceptable to  the  God  of  love  as  the  living  works  of  charity, 
and  this  consciousness  produced  a  feeling  of  anger  against 
charity  with  those  who  had  confirmed  themselves  in  the  se- 
ductive persuasion  of  intellectualism.  Thus  they  reasoned : 
Any  simple  person  is  able  to  work,  but  we  are  the  thinkers, 
the  advanced  philosophers,  the  scientific  minds,  the  emanci- 
pators of  the  human  understanding  from  the  shackles  of 
an  antiquated  Divine  paternalism !  And  thus  they  began 
to  look  down  upon  charity  and  good  works,  at  first  as  being 
less  essential  and  then  as  non-essential  to  salvation, — just 
as  was  done  in  the  Protestant  Church  at  the  Reformation. 

This  is  what  is  meant  by  Cain  killing  his  brother,  Abel. 
To  the  question  of  Jehovah,  ' '  Where  is  Abel,  thy  brother  ? ' ' 


124  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

he  replied,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  In  other  words : 
''What  do  I  care  what  has  become  of  Charity  in  my  re- 
ligion?" 

The  Curse  upon  Cain. 

Cursed  henceforth  was  the  faith  of  the  decadent  Church. 
The  doctrinal  ground  which  it  tilled  no  longer  yielded  any 
increase,  and  "a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond"  it  became  in 
the  earth.  As  in  the  Protestant  Church,  after  the  doctrine 
of  Faith-alone  had  been  firmly  established,  all  theological 
progress  ceased  and  the  Eeformation  split  up  into  contend- 
ing heresies  and  sects,  so  after  Faith-alone  had  slain  Charity 
in  the  ]\Iost  Ancient  Church,  the  field  of  doctrinal  study 
became  barren  and  the  faith  itself  a  "fugitive  and  a  vaga- 
bond," fleeing  from  the  detecting  eye  of  rational  truth. 

Nevertheless  "Jehovah  set  a  marh  upon  Cain,  lest  any 
one  finding  him  should  slay  him."  For  since  charity  had 
been  slain,  faith  was  now  the  only  thing  left  in  the  Church, 
and  if  faith  also  should  be  destroyed,  the  Church  would  be 
at  an  end.  Faith  alone,  even  though  it  has  become  a 
merely  historical  faith,  of  the  memory  only,  is  better  than 
total  irreligion,  for  by  it  at  least  the  knowledges  of  truth 
are  preserved  for  the  use  of  future  ages.  By  the  "mark" 
set  upon  Cain  lest  anyone  should  slay  him,  is  meant,  there- 
fore, that  God  caused  the  intellectual  faith  to  be  preserved 
"because  there  can  be  no  saving  faith  unless  historical 
faith  precedes.  Moreover,  they  who  are  only  in  historical 
faith, — ^that  is,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  things  of  faith,  who 
are  Cain, — are  preserved  because  they  are  able  to  teach 
truths  from  the  Word  to  others,  for  they  teach  from  the 
memory."  (A.  E.  427^)  And  the  7neans  by  which  the 
knowledges  of  faith  were  thus  "marked"  and  preserved, 
was  none  other  than  the  Art  of  Writing  which  was  now 
invented.  "By  the  Providence  of  the  Lord  the  doctrinals 
of  faith,  together  with  some  of  the  revelations  of  the  IMost 
Ancient  Church,  were  preserved  for  the  use  of  the  later 
posterity  represented  by  Noah.  These  doctrinal  things  were 
first  collected  by  Cain  and  stored  up  so  that  they  should 
not  be  lost,  on  which  account  it  is  said  of  Cain  that  a  'mark' 


THE  AGE  OF  TEE  FATEIAECES.  125 

was  set  upon  him  lest  anyone  should  slay  him."  (A.  C. 
609.)  This  work  of  collecting  and  storing  up  the  religious 
traditions  of  the  Golden  Age  was  afterwards  continued  by 
the  generation  known  as  Enoch,  of  whom  more  anon. 

As  for  Cain  himself,  he  ''we7it  forth  from  the  face  of 
Jehovah  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod/'  by  which  is  signi- 
fied that  the  faith  of  the  Church,  now  separated  from  the 
good  of  love,  in  the  course  of  time  became  more  and  more 
estranged  from  worship  of  the  true  God.  In  the  land  of 
Nod,  ("flight,"  "exile"),  i.  e.,  in  this  exile  from  genuine 
religion,  Cain  became  the  father  of  a  son  named  Enoch 
and  built  a  city  which  he  called  after  the  name  of  his  son. 
(Gen.  4:17.)  The  original  heresy  of  Faith-alone  in  time 
produced  another  heresy  which  now  was  formulated  into 
a  definite  system  of  doctrine.  A  city  always  signifies  a 
doctrinal  system,  as  Rome  stands  for  the  doctrines  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  Augsburg  for  the  Lutheran  doctrine, 
Geneva  for  the  Reformed,  and  the  New  Jerusalem  for  the 
Heavenly  Doctrine  of  the  New  Church. 

The  Cainites  and  the  Sethites. 
There  follows  now  in  the  Word  a  genealogical  list  of 
"patriarchs"  descended  from  Cain,  and  immediately  after- 
wards another  patriarchal  succession  descended  from  Seth. 
In  each  list  nine  names  appear,  some  of  these  identical  in 
both,  and  some  very  similar,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  follow- 
ing genealogical  table : 

Adam 
"  Abel  Seth 

Enosh 
Cainan 


Mehujael  Mahalaleel 

Jared 
Enoch 


Methusael  Methuselah 

Lamech 


Jabal,  Jubal,  Tubal-cain 


126  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

By  the  descendants  of  Cain,  in  this  genealogy,  are  repre- 
sented the  successive  steps  in  the  decline  of  the  Most  An- 
cient Church  as  to  intellectual  things,  while  the  descend- 
ants of  Seth  represent  the  corresponding  decline  as  to  vol- 
imtary  things.  The  Cainites  are  so  many  successive  here- 
sies, born  one  from  another,  and  each  worse  than  the  other, 
until  the  end  of  all  truth  was  reached  in  Lamech,  who  lived 
just  before  the  Flood.  And  the  Sethites  are  so  many  suc- 
cessive evils,  continually  growing  worse,  until  the  end  of 
all  good  was  reached  in  the  same  Lamech-condition.  The 
names  and  the  order  of  succession  are  somewhat  different 
in  the  two  lines,  on  account  of  the  different  processes  in 
the  working  of  the  two  faculties  of  understanding  and  will ; 
and  yet  they  are  similar  and  in  some  cases  identical,  be- 
cause of  the  intimate  relationships  of  the  two  faculties 
which  can  never  be  completely  separated.  In  each  line 
Lamech  represents  the  end  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church, 
and  in  each  line  the  children  of  Lamech  represent  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  Church,— the  Church  of  the  Silver  Age. 

Enoch,  the  son  of  Cain,  is  the  heresy  or  doctrine  spring- 
ing immediately  from  the  separation  of  charity  from  faith, 
just  as  Calvin's  doctrine  of  Predestination  was  the  immedi- 
ate fruit  of  Luther's  doctrine  of  salvation  by  Faith-alone. 
But  of  Enoch  we  shall  speak  more  fully  in  connection  with 
the  descendants  of  Seth. 

Irad,  the  son  of  Enoch,  stands  for  a  further  development 
of  heresy,  "but  as  there  is  nothing  extant  respecting  him 
and  his  descendants,  except  the  names,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  say  anything  about  them.  Something  might  be  gath- 
ered from  the  derivations  of  the  names.  The  name  Irad, 
for  instance,  means  that  he  'descends  from  a  city,'  thus 
from  the  heresy  called  'Enoch;'  and  thus  with  the  other 
names."     (A.  C.  404.) 

Mehujael,  the  son  of  Irad,  carried  a  name  which  is  said 
to  signify  ' '  smitten  by  God. ' ' 

Methusael,  the  son  of  Mehujael,  is  explained  by  the 
lexicographers  as  signifying  ' '  a  man  that  is  from  God, ' '  but 
Swedenborg  states  that  both  Methusael  and  Methuselah 
"signify  something  that  is  about  to  die."     (A.   C.  527.) 


TEE  AGE  OF  THE  PATBIAECES.  127 

The  word  meth  means  "dead,"  and  the  whole  name  prob- 
ably means  "dead  as  to  God." 

Lamech,  the  son  of  Methusael,  had  a  name  which  the 
lexicographers  have  not  been  able  to  explain,  there  being  no 
other  word  similar  to  it  in  the  Hebrew  tongue.  The  Writ- 
ings of  the  New  Chnrch,  however,  state  that  Lamech  signi- 
fies ' '  vastation ' '  and  ' '  something  destroyed. "  ( A.  C.  527. ) 
That  by  "Lamech"  is  signified  the  vastation  and  destruc- 
tion both  of  faith  and  of  charity,  is  evident  from  his  own 
statement  that  he  ' '  slew  a  man  to  his  wounding,  and  a  little 
one  to  his  hurt,"  for  by  "a  man"  is  meant  faith,  and  by 
"a  little  one"  is  meant  innocence  and  charity.  (A.  C. 
406.) 

Yet,  though  the  Most  Ancient  Church  had  now  come  to 
its  end,  and  as  a  whole  had  become  thoroughly  vastated 
as  to  everything  good  and  true,  there  still  remained  a  few, 
a  bare  remnant,  who  possessed  some  salvable  elements,  and 
out  of  whom  a  new  Church  could  be  formed.  "There  al- 
ways remains  some  nucleus  of  a  Church,  whom  those  who 
are  vastated  as  to  faith  do  not  recognize;  and  thus  it  was 
with  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  of  which  a  remnant  con- 
tinued until  the  time  of  the  flood,  and  continued  after  that 
event.  This  remnant  of  a  Church  is  called  'Noah.'  "  (A. 
C.  407.) 

This  new  Church,  as  to  the  remains  of  intellectual  in- 
tegrity, is  described,  in  the  line  of  Cain,  by  "Adah"  and 
"Zillah,"  the  two  wives  of  Lamech.  "They  are  called  the 
wives  of  Lamech,  although  he  himself  possessed  no  faith, 
just  as  the  internal  and  external  Church  of  the  Jews,  (who 
also  had  no  faith),  are  also  called  'wives'  in  the  Word, 
being  represented  by  Leah  and  Rachel,  the  two  wives  of 
Jacob, — Leah  representing  the  external  Church,  and  Eachel 
the  internal."     (A.  C.  409.) 

That  Adah  signifies  the  Church  is  self-evident,  for  her 
name  is  the  regular  Hebrew  word  for  the  "congregation" 
regarded  as  a  whole.  Her  name  also  means  "ornament," 
and,  as  the  mother  of  Jabal  and  Jubal,  she  signifies  that 
interior  affection  of  truth  which  produced  the  celestial  and 
spiritual  things  in  the  new  Church  which  now  arose.  Jabal, 


128  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

''the  father  of  the  dwellers  in  tents,  and  of  cattle,"  stands 
for  "the  doctrine  concerning  the  holy  things  of  love  and  the 
goods  thence  derived,  which  are  celestial,^ ^  (A.  C.  412)  ; 
while  his  brother,  Jubal,  "the  father  of  every  one  that 
playeth  upon  the  harp  and  the  organ,"  signifies  "the  doc- 
trine of  the  spiritual  things  of  the  same  Church,"  (A.  C. 
417)  ;  for  stringed  instruments  represent  worship  from  the 
spiritual  things  of  faith,  while  wind  instruments,  producing 
sounds  from  the  interior  of  man,  represent  worship  from 
the  celestial  things  of  love.  The  name  of  Jubal,  (from 
jahal,  "to  make  music"),  is  the  origin  of  our  English  word 
"jubilee." 

The  name  of  the  second  wife  of  Lamech  was  Zillah, 
which  means  "a  shade"  and  signifies  the  more  external 
and  natural  affection  of  truth  in  the  new  Church  that  was 
to  be  established  after  the  flood.  She  became  the  mother 
of  TuBAL-CAiN,  who  as  ' '  the  instructor  of  every  artificer  in 
brass  and  iron,"  stands  for  the  doctrine  of  natural  good 
and  truth;  the  "instructor"  means  this  doctrine;  "brass" 
always  means  natural  good,  and  "iron"  natural  truth. 
(A.  C.  421.)  The  name  of  Tubal-cain  is  said  to  mean  "a 
loud-sounding  smith, ' '  and  naturally  calls  to  mind  old  Vul- 
can, that  noisy  smith  of  Greek  Mythology. 

The  fourth  chapter  of  Genesis  continues  with  the  ac- 
count of  the  birth  of  Seth  and  of  his  son  Enosh,  by  whom 
are  represented  faith  and  charity  in  that  new  Church,  the 
Ancient  Church,  which  was  introduced  on  the  scene  by 
Adah  and  Zillah.  (A.  C.  434,  435.)  The  Seth  and  Enosh 
of  this  chapter,  therefore,  do  not  represent  the  same  things 
as  the  patriarchs  of  the  same  names  mentioned  in  the  fifth 
chapter,  who  were  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  but  they 
represent  similar  or  analogous  states.  By  the  first  Seth 
is  signified  a  new  faith,  and  by  the  first  Enosh  a  new  char- 
ity,— kindled  by  means  of  this  faith, — among  the  remnant 
that  constituted  the  nucleus  of  the  Ancient  Church.  The 
name  Seth  comes  from  a  root,  meaning  "to  put,"  "to 
place,"  and  he  was  so  called  because  he  was  "appointed 
as  another  seed  in  the  place  of  Abel,  whom  Cain  slew." 
(Gen.  4:  25.)    The  new  seed  was  this  new  faith,  by  means 


TEE  AGE  OF  TEE  PATEIAECES.  129 

of  which  the  charity,  which  was  lost  by  the  death  of  Abel, 
could  be  replaced  or  restored  in  the  Ancient  Church.  And 
Enosh  was  this  new  charity,  born  not  from  but  hy  means 
of  faith.  The  name  Enosh  means  "man," — not  the  ce- 
lestial man  who  was  called  "Adam,"  but  a  new  man,  a 
spiritual  man,  whose  chief  love  was  not  so  much  the  love 
of  God,  as  the  love  of  fellow-man.  (A.  C.  439.)  This  idea 
of  neighborly  love  is  involved  in  the  very  name  "Enosh," 
which  comes  from  an  old  Semitic  root,  anash,  "to  join,  to 
associate,  to  be  a  companion."  Hence  comes  the  regular 
Hebrew  word  for  "man,"  aisJi,  plural  anashim,  which  es- 
sentially means  a  "companion." 

That  this  Enosh  is  an  entirely  new  Church  or  Dispensa- 
tion is  evident  from  the  final  statement  that  in  his  day 
"they  began  to  call  on  the  name  of  Jehovah,"  which  means 
that  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  Golden  Age, 
was  now  restored  among  men.     (A.  C.  441.) 

The  Eemains  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church. 

The  fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  treats  specifically  of  the 
lingering  propagation  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  through 
successive  generations,  posterities,  or  churches,  almost  to 
the  time  of  the  flood,  the  remains  of  good  and  truth  con- 
stantly decreasing,  until  the  last  remains,  represented  by 
Noah,  were  separated  from  the  corrupted  Church  and 
formed  into  a  new  Church.  The  years  of  life  ascribed  to 
these  antediluvians  are,  like  their  names,  purely  representa- 
tive. Men  never  lived  to  an  age  so  fabulously  great  as  that 
of  IMethuselah,*  but  the  number  of  the  years  describes  in 


*  The  teachings  upon  which  we  base  our  statement  concerning  the 
years  of  the  patriarchs  are  the  following  in  the  Arcana  Ccelestia: 

''What  the  years  and  the  number  of  years,  which  are  mentioned 
in  this  chapter,  signify  has  never  heretofore  been  known  to  anyone. 
Those  who  are  in  the  sense  of  the  letter  suppose  the  years  to  be 
secular  ones,  but  this  chapter  even  to  the  twelfth  contains  nothing 
historical,  such  as  appears  in  the  literal  sense,  but  all  and  single 
things  contain  other  matters;  as  in  the  case  of  the  names,  so  also 
in  the  case  of  the  numbers."     (A.  C.  482.) 

''That  their  ages  were  not  so  great — as  that  of  Jared  962  years, 

9 


130  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

a  brief  compass  the  whole  state  of  that  generation  or 
church.  Each  number  signifies  a  different  thing 
and  can  be  unfolded  with  mathematical  precision  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  correspondence,  but  it  does  not  seem 
necessary  to  enter  into  this  exegesis  in  the  present  little 
work. 

Seth,  who  was  bom  ''into  the  image  and  after  the  like- 
ness' of  Adam,  represents  the  first  posterity  or  church  de- 
scended from  the  Most  Ancient  Church  itself ;  it  was  ' '  not 
YQYj  unlike"  that  Church,  but  it  was  different  in  this  that 
"love  was  not  now  the  principal  thing,  but  faith, 
though  this  faith  was  still  conjoined  with  love."  (A.  C. 
485.) 

Enosh,  the  son  of  Seth,  was  a  third  church,  still  less  per- 
fect than  Adam  and  Seth,  yet  a  part  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  regarded  as  a  whole.  (A.  C.  502.)  The  people 
who  constituted  these  two  churches,  Seth  and  Enosh,  at- 
tained the  spiritual  degree  of  regeneration ;  they  were  con- 
sequently saved,  and  are  now  angels  of  heaven.  Sweden- 
borg  describes  them  as  living  in  magnificent  habitations, 
and  surrounded  with  an  aura  of  light  glittering  with  a 
lustre  as  of  pearls  and  diamonds,  but  the  light  in  which 
live  those  of  the  Church  of  Adam  is  still  more  intense. 
(A.  C.  1116,  1117.) 

Cainan,  the  son  of  Enosh,  was  a  fourth  church,  which 
was  not  as  perfect  as  the  three  preceding  ones,  because  the 
perception  which  in  former  ages  had  been  distinct  and  clear 
now  began  to  become  more  obscure.  (A.  C.  507.)  The 
name  of  this  church  is  almost  the  same  as  that  of  Cain, 
and  probably  signifies  something  similar. 


and  of  Methuselah  969,  may  indeed  be  evident  to  every  one,  and 
also  from  what,  of  the  Divine  Mercy  of  the  Lord,  will  be  said  in  the 
next  chapter,  verse  3,  [A.  C.  575],  where  it  is  stated  that  'their  days 
shall  be  a  hundred  and  twenty  years ; '  the  number  of  the  years, 
therefore,  does  not  mean  the  age  of  the  life  of  any  one  man,  but 
the  times   and   states   of   the   Church."      (A.   C.   515.) 

''Numbers  in  the  Word  are  to  be  understood  altogether  abstractly 
from  the  sense  of  the  letter;  they  are  inserted  only  in  order  to  con- 
nect the  historical  series  which  is  in  the  sense  of  the  letter,  as  has 
been  said  and  shown  before."     (A.  C.  813.) 


TEE  AGE  OF  TEE  PATBIAECHS.  131 

Mahalaleel,  the  son  of  Cainan,  was  a  Church,  still 
further  removed  from  perception  and  love.  The  life  of 
this  posterity  was  ''such  that  they  preferred  the  delight 
arising  from  truths  to  the  delight  arising  from  uses,  as 
has  been  given  me  to  know,"  says  Swedenborg,  "by  ex- 
perience among  their  like  in  the  other  life."  (A.  C.  511.) 
This  state  is  fitly  expressed  in  their  name,  Mahalaleel,  which 
means  "praising  God."  The  prefix  Ma  is  the  sign  of 
the  participial  form  of  halal  which  means  "to  praise"  (as 
in  Hallelicjah  "praise  Jehovah"),  and  El  or  "God"  al- 
ways refers  to  the  Divine  Truth  rather  than  to  the  Divine 
Good. 

Jared,  the  son  of  Mahalaleel,  represents  a  church  in 
which  even  natural  good  began  to  decline,  (A.  C.  283),  as 
is  expressed  in  the  name  Jared,  which  means  "going 
down. ' ' 

Enoch^  the  son  of  Jared,  was  a  church  which  played  an 
important  role  in  the  history  of  Divine  Revelation.  We 
will  treat  of  this  church  at  some  length  after  concluding 
the  rest  of  the  genealogy. 

Methuselah,  the  son  of  Enoch,  was  a  church  of  which 
nothing  further  is  known  except  that  now  "integrity  de- 
creased, and  with  it  intelligence  and  wisdom."  (A.  C. 
524.)  The  name  Methuselah,  (properly,  Methushelach),  is 
explained  by  the  lexicographers  as  meaning  "a  man  of  the 
dart,"  but  Swedenborg  states  that  it  means  "something 
about  to  die,"  (A.  C.  527)  ;  literally  translated  it  seems  to 
signify  ' '  death  being  sent  forth. ' ' 

Lamech,  the  son  of  Methuselah,  signifies  the  same  as  the 
Lamech  who  descended  from  Cain,  of  whom  we  have 
treated  above.  It  was  the  last,  expiring  state  of  the  Most 
Ancient  Church,  in  which  "the  perception  of  truth  and 
of  good  was  so  obscure  as  to  be  almost  none ;  it  was  thus  a 
vastated  Church."     (A.  C.  527.) 

' '  The  Churches  which  are  called  Methuselah  and  Lamech 
both  expired  immediately  before  the  flood."  (A.  C.  533.) 
Lamech  also  "begat  sons  and  daughters."  One  of  these 
"sons"  was  Noah.  The  rest  were  the  Nephilim  or  Ante- 
diluvians who  perished  in  the  flood. 


132  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


Enoch. 


Returning  to  Enoch.,  the  son  of  Jared,  we  learn  in  the 
New  Revelation  that  ''there  were  some  at  that  time  who 
framed  doctrines  from  the  things  that  had  been  matters  of 
perception  in  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  in  order  that  such 
doctrine  might  serve  as  a  rule  whereby  to  know  what  was 
good  and  true;  such  persons  were  called  'Enoch.'  This  is 
what  is  signified  by  the  words  'and  Enoch  walked  with 
God,'  and  thus  they  called  that  doctrine,  which  is  likewise 
signified  by  the  name  Enoch,  which  means  'to  instruct.' 
The  same  is  evident  also  from  the  signification  of  'walk- 
ing,' and  from  the  fact  that  he  is  said  to  have  'walked 
with  God,'  not  with  Jehovah.  To  'walk  with  God'  is  to 
teach  and  live  according  to  the  doctrine  of  faith,  but  to 
'walk  with  Jehovah'  is  to  live  the  life  of  love."  (A.  C. 
519.) 

"  'And  Enoch  ivas  no  more,  for  God  took  him.'  (Gen. 
5 :  24. )  This  signifies  that  this  doctrine  was  preserved  for 
the  use  of  posterity."     (A.  C.  520.) 

This  work  of  collecting  and  formulating  the  doctrinal 
traditions  of  the  Golden  Age  was  first  undertaken  by  those 
who  are  known  by  the  collective  name  of  Cain,  and  was 
continued  and  completed  by  the  subsequent  generation  or 
church  called  Enoch,  whose  Hebrew  name  is  "Chanoch." 
These  people  were  in  possession  of  the  book  or  documents 
written  by  the  Cainites,  and  to  this  they  added  the  results 
of  their  own  investigations  and  recollections.  Their  own 
interest  in  this  work  seems  to  have  been  purely  historic 
and  antiquarian,  for  they  themselves  were  of  a  decadent 
race  hastening  towards  its  doom.  The  codex  which  they 
compiled  was  of  no  practical  use  to  them,  and  their  ter- 
rible antediluvian  descendants  would  have  destroyed  the 
book  if  it  had  not,  in  Providence,  been  removed  and  hid- 
den from  their  fury,  {"reposita,"  A.  C.  609).  It  was  re- 
stored, however,  to  the  little  remnant  of  religious  people 
known  as  Noah,  and  it  was  by  means  of  this  book  that 
something  of  the  celestial  wisdom  of  the  Golden  Age,  to- 
gether with  a  knowledge  of  correspondences,  passed  over 


TEE  AGE  OF  TEE  PATBIABCES.  133 

to  the  Churcli  of  the  Silver  Age.  To  them  this  book  of 
Enoch  was  the  Word  of  Grod.  It  was  the  first  book  of  the 
Ancient  Word.  In  the  beginning  the  Ancient  Church  had 
no  other  Word. 

The  remembrance  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  lingered  long 
in  the  memory  of  mankind.  The  legends  of  the  ancient 
mythologies  have  much  to  tell  about  it,  and  the  resurrected 
clay  tablets  of  Chaldea  and  Assyria  confirm  the  tale  and 
likewise  confirm  the  statements  of  Swedenborg  concerning 
it.  The  traditions  of  the  Arabs  describe  quite  minutely, 
not  only  the  Book  of  Enoch,  but  also  the  Book  of  Cain, 
and  they  tell  even  of  a  Book  of  Adam.  But  this  book  of 
Enoch  was  lost  with  all  the  other  books  of  the  Ancient 
Word,  and  though  we  know  it  will  be  restored,  in  time,  for 
the  use  of  the  New  Church,  it  is  quite  certain  that  it  has 
not  yet  been  found.  There  was,  indeed,  a  "Book  of 
Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,"  known  to  Jude  the 
Apostle,  and  twice  mentioned  and  quoted  by  him  in  his 
Epistle,  and  concerning  these  quotations  Swedenborg  states 
that  ''Jude,  the  Apostle,  had  these  things  from  ancient 
books  which  were  written  by  correspondences."  (A.  E. 
735.)  This  Book  of  Enoch  was  re-discovered  by  the  Eng- 
lish traveler,  Bruce,  in  the  year  1773,  in  a  monastery  in 
Abyssinia,  and  contains  the  sentences  quoted  by  Jude.  But 
it  is  quite  evident  that  it  is  neither  an  inspired  work,  nor 
of  any  greater  antiquity  than,  perhaps,  the  book  of  Job. 
Though  it  contains  many  references  to  antediluvian  his- 
tory, it  also  brings  in  many  things  from  other  and  later 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  all  clothed  in  the  usual  ex- 
uberance of  oriental  imagery. 

But  though  the  real  Book  of  Enoch  has  not  yet  been  dis- 
covered, it  is  carefully  preserved  in  the  other  world,  as  was 
told  to  Swedenborg  when  visiting  a  great  library  in  Heaven. 
He  states  that  "there  were  a  great  number  of  books  there. 
The  persons  who  were  there  were  not  seen  by  me,  but  still 
they  spoke  with  me.  They  said  that  there  were  books  there 
from  the  time  of  the  Ancients,  written  by  correspondences. 
Interiorly  in  other  libraries  there  were  books  written  by 
those  who  were  of  the  Ancient  Churches,  and  still  more 


134  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

interiorly  there  were  books  for  the  ]\Iost  Ancients,  from 
whom  the  society  called  Enoch  had  collected  correspond- 
ences that  afterwards  were  for  the  nse  of  those  who  were 
of  the  subsequent  Churches,  called  the  Ancient  Churches." 
(S.  D.  5999.) 

We  will  adduce  two  more  quotations  from  the  many 
statements  in  the  Writings  concerning  the  Book  of  Enoch : 

^'It  was  provided  by  the  Lord  that  some  of  those  who 
lived  with  the  ]\Iost  Ancients  should  collect  the  correspond- 
ences into  one  [codex],  and  connect  them  together  in  writ- 
ing. These  were  they  who  are  meant  by  '  Enoch, '  and  this 
writing  is  what  is  there  signified.  As  this  writing  was  to 
be  of  service  to  future  churches  for  the  knowledge  of  spir- 
itual things  in  natural  things,  it  was  preserved  by  the  Lord 
for  their  use,  and  also  guarded  lest  the  last  posterity  of  the 
Most  Ancient  Church  should  do  injury  to  it.  This  is  what 
is  signified  in  the  spiritual  sense  by  'Enoch  was  no  longer, 
for  God  took  him.'  "     (A.  E.  728^.) 

The  exact  nature  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  is  described  in 
the  following  teaching : 

''As  the  Lord  foresaw  that  the  state  of  the  celestial  man 
would  become  changed  and  inverted.  He  provided  for  the 
preservation  of  the  doctrinal  things  of  faith,  in  order  that 
man  might  know  what  is  celestial  and  spiritual.  These 
doctrinal  things  were  collected  from  the  men  of  the  Most 
Ancient  Church  by  those  called  'Cain,'  and  also  by  those 
called  'Enoch.'  .  .  .  These  doctrinals  consisted  altogether 
of  significatives,  and  thus  as  it  were  enigmatical  things — 
I.  e.,  what  is  signified  by  the  things  which  are  upon  the 
earth,  as  that  mountains  signify  celestial  things  and  the 
Lord;  that  the  morning  and  the  east  also  signify  these 
things;  that  the  various  kinds  of  trees  and  fruits  signify 
man  and  the  celestial  things  with  him;  and  thus  what  all 
other  things  signify.  Their  doctrinals  consisted  in  things 
such  as  these,  which  were  collected  from  the  significatives 
of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  and  consequently  their  writ- 
ings also  were  of  the  same  nature."     (A.  C.  920.) 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE  ANTEDILUVIANS. 

In  the  Days  before  the  Flood. 

We  come  now  to  the  blackest  chapter  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  the  terrible  night  of  corruption  and  violence 
which  culminated  in  that  universal  Flood  of  evil  and  falsity 
which  destroyed  the  last  generations  of  the  perverted  ce- 
lestial race.  Indelibly  impressed  upon  the  memory  of  the 
race-man,  the  story  of  the  Flood  and  of  the  state  preced- 
ing it  is  found  in  the  mythologies  of  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity  and  in  the  legends  of  every  gentile  people  and 
tribe  in  every  comer  of  the  earth.  In  the  lore  of  antiquity 
the  Nephilim  of  the  Bible  rise  before  us  in  the  monstrous 
shapes  of  Titans,  Pythons,  Gorgons,  Cyclops  and  Cloud- 
giants  who  inhabited  the  earth  in  the  days  before  the  Flood. 
It  was  an  age  of  gold  mingled  with  blood,  of  celestial  love 
perverted  and  profaned,  of  gigantic  persuaions  and  in- 
sane lusts  such  as  had  never  existed  before  nor  ever  will 
exist  again  upon  the  earth.  This  state  of  wickedness  was 
such  that  we  will  never  fully  comprehend  it,  for  we  are  of 
a  totally  different  genius  and  form  of  mind.  The  Ante- 
diluvians were  of  the  celestial  genius,  though  in  the  last 
stage  of  its  perversion,  and  the  spiritual  genius  cannot 
comprehend  the  celestial  any  more  than  a  straight  line  can 
measure  the  curved.  Nevertheless,  we  can  grasp  the  out- 
lines of  their  story  as  told  in  a  few  words  in  Genesis  and 
unfolded  at  length  in  the  New  Revelation. 

''And  it  came  to  pass  that  man  began  to  multiply  him- 
self upon  the  faces  of  the  ground,  and  daughters  were  lorn 
unto  them.''  (Gen.  6 : 1.)  The  Authorized  Version  trans- 
lates this:  ''when  men  began  to  multiply,"  which  entirely 
misses  the  point  involved  in  the  internal  sense.  That  "man 
began  to  multiply  himself  means  that  he  waxed  great  in 

135 


136  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

his  own  conceit;  and  that  "daughters  were  bom  unto 
them"  means  that  all  kinds  of  evil  lusts  sprang  forth  from 
a  stupendous  love  of  self.  For  as  ' '  sons ' '  signify  new  ideas 
of  truth  arising  in  the  intellectual  mind,  and,  in  the  oppo- 
site sense,  new  ideas  of  falsity,  so  ' '  daughters ' '  signify  new 
affections  of  good,  and  in  the  opposite  sense,  as  here,  new 
lusts  or  cupidities  of  an  evil  will. 

The  love  of  the  celestial  age,  which  had  been  a  heavenly 
love  of  Jehovah  God,  and  thence  an  inmost  love  of  the 
neighbor,  when  once  perverted  soon  turned  into  its  very 
opposite, — a  most  intense  hatred  of  God  and  of  the  neigh- 
bor. From  the  daily  tragedies  of  the  divorce  courts  it  is 
seen  how  love  may  turn  into  its  opposite.  The  more  in- 
tense the  love  of  the  honey-moon,  the  more  fierce  the  hatred 
when  love  has  turned.  When  the  descendants  of  the 
Golden  Age  had  lost  their  love  of  Jehovah  God,  this  love 
turned  through  rapidly  descending  degrees  to  an  insane 
love  of  self  as  the  only  object  of  w^orship ;  and  as  the  love 
of  self  hates  whatever  stands  in  the  way  of  its  supreme 
control,  the  all  over- ruling  Deity  became  the  object  of  the 
most  passionate  hatred.  The  love  of  dominion,  which  is 
the  supreme  form  of  the  love  of  self,  now  took  universal 
possession  of  the  minds  of  men.  They  did  not  care  so  much 
for  the  riches  and  pleasures  adored  by  the  love  of  the 
world,  but  were  consumed  by  a  burning  lust  for  dominion 
and  power  over  others,  especially  the  spiritual  power  over 
minds  and  souls,  a  determination  to  rule  over  the  Church 
in  this  world  and  the  next,  and  to  cast  down  God  Himself 
from  the  throne  of  Heaven.  The  memory  of  this  fearful 
state  is  preserved  in  the  mythological  stories  of  the  arro- 
gance of  that  race  of  giants  who  piled  Pelion  upon  Ossa 
when  fighting  with  the  gods  for  the  possession  of  Olympus. 
Nor  has  later  history  been  lacking  in  instances  of  this  in- 
sane love  of  rule,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  Gregories  and 
Innocents,  Leos  and  Benedicts  and  other  "holy  fathers," 
who  as  "gods  on  earth"  claimed  infallibility  and  universal 
dominion  in  this  world,  and  in  the  other  life — the  keys  of 
Heaven  and  Hell ! 

To  this  love  of  self,  then,  in  the  days  before  the  Flood, 


TEE  ANTEDILUVIANS.  137 

there  were  bom  "daughters"  in  the  alluring  shape  of  flat- 
tering affections  and  lusts  of  the  flesh,— derivative  loves  of 
evil  such  as  the  contempt  of  others,  love  of  revenge  and 
cruelty,  robbery,  adultery  and  despotism.  Peace  and  mu- 
tual confidence  became  impossible  on  the  earth.  Distrust 
and  suspicion  filled  each  heart  with  malice  against  all, 
breaking  out  undoubtedly  into  internecine  tribal  wars  of 
extermination.  We  may  gain  a  faint  idea  of  this  state 
from  the  conditions  of  Europe  during  the  Dark  Ages,  when 
the  "robber  barons"  made  life  well-nigh  impossible.  Ovid 
has  well  described  this  state:  "Then  destructive  iron  came 
forth,  and  gold  more  destructive  than  iron.  Then  War 
came  forth,  that  fights  by  the  means  of  both,  brandishing 
clattering  arms  in  blood-stained  hands.  Men  live  by  rap- 
ine ;  the  guest  is  not  safe  from  his  host,  nor  the  father-in- 
law  from  the  son-in-law;  good  feeling  between  brothers  is 
rare.  The  husband  is  eager  for  the  death  of  the  wife,  she 
for  the  death  of  her  husband.  Horrible  step-mothers  min- 
gle the  ghastly  wolfsbane.  The  son  prematurely  makes 
inquiry  into  the  years  of  his  father.  Piety  lies  vanquished, 
and  the  virgin  Astroea  [the  goddess  of  Justice]  is  the  last 
of  the  celestials  to  abandon  the  earth,  now  drenched  in 
slaughter."     (Metamorph,  Fable  IV.) 

In  the  language  of  Scripture:  "And  God  saw  that  the 
wickedness  of  man  luas  multiplied  on  the  earth,  and  thai 
all  the  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only 
evil  every  day."  (Gen.  6:5.)  For  "the  earth  also  was 
corrupt  lefore  God,  and  the  earth  ivas  filled  with  violence.'' 
(Gen.  5:11.) 

The  Profanation  of  Celestial  Truth. 

"And  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  man  that 
they  were  good,  and  they  took  to  themselves  ivives  from  all 
whom  they  chose.''  (Gen.  6:2.)  The  "sons  of  God"  were 
the  celestial  truths  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  the  knowl- 
edge of  which  still  lingered  with  this  degenerate  race. 
These  were  now  "married,"  i.  e.,  conjoined  with  the  filthy 
lusts  signified  by  "the  daughters  of  man,"— a  horrible  com- 


138  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

mingling  which  is  the  most  direful  kind  of  profanation. 
For  ''they  immersed  the  holy  truths  of  the  Church  in  their 
cupidities,  and  thereby  defiled  these  truths,  and  in  this  way 
they  confirmed  the  principles  of  which  they  were  so  strongly 
persuaded."     (A.  C.  570.) 

There  are  many  kinds  and  degrees  of  profanation,  some 
milder,  some  worse,  but  the  Antediluvians  committed  the 
worst  kind  of  this  ''sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit"  because 
they  so  turned  and  twisted  the  highest  truths  as  to  make 
them  appear  to  excuse,  support  and  confirm  the  worst  of 
evils.  By  such  confirmations,  truths  and  evils,  and  goods 
and  falsities,  become  so  inextricably  commingled  that  they 
cannot  in  the  other  life  be  separated  by  the  ordinary 
processes  of  vastation,  but  must  be  violently  torn  assunder, 
leaving  the  miserable  profaners  almost  devoid  of  life.  (S. 
D.  MiN,  4745.) 

"Hence  it  is  that  after  death  profaners  are  not  spirits 
in  the  human  form,  as  others  are,  but  are  mere  phantasies, 
and  appear  to  themselves  to  flit  hither  and  thither  without 
thought,  and  at  last  are  separated  from  others,  and  are 
cast  down  into  a  hell  the  lowest  of  all,  and  as  they  do  not 
appear  in  the  human  form  they  are  called  its,  that  is,  non- 
man."  (A.  E.  375.)  "In  the  light  of  heaven  they  appear 
like  charred  skeletons,  and  therefore  are  spoken  of  in  the 
neuter  gender.  By  degrees  they  lose  human  life,  and  be- 
come like  ghosts."     (S.  D.  5950.) 

The  Nephilim. 

"There  were  Giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days,  and  espe- 
cially after  the  sons  of  God  went  in  unto  the  daughters  of 
man,  and  they  hare  to  them;  the  same  became  mighty  men 
that  were  of  old,  men  of  renown.''     (Gen.  6:4.) 

These  "giants"  were  gigantic  chiefly  in  their  own  con- 
ceit, filled  as  they  were  with  monstrous  persuasions  of  their 
own  loftiness  and  pre-eminence,  each  one  conceiving  him- 
self superior  not  only  above  all  his  fellows,  but  above  the 
angels  and  above  God  Himself. 

The  word  "giants"  in  the  Hebrew  original  is  Nephilim, 


THE  ANTEDILUVIANS.  139 

which  according  to  some  authorities,  is  derived  from  the 
root  pala,  "to  be  marvelous,"  but,  according  to  others, 
from  naplial,  "to  fall."  In  either  case  the  etymology  of 
the  word  would  fitly  express  the  quality  of  this  terrible 
race,  who  were  "marvellous"  in  their  own  eyes,  but  "fallen 
ones'"— monstrous  births,  spiritual  abortions,— in  the  eyes 

of  heaven. 

Whether  these  people  were  actually  of  a  gigantic  stature 
is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  Certain  it  is  that  some  of  their 
remote  descendants,  the  Anakim,  were  physical  giants,  for 
the  spies  sent  out  by  Joshua  testified  that,  compared  with 
the  Nephilim  of  Hebron,  "we  were  in  our  own  sight  as 
grasshoppers,  and  so  we  were  in  their  sight."  (Numbers 
13:22-33.)  Remnants  of  these  Anakim  found  refuge 
among  the  Philistines  and  produced  Goliath  of  Gath,  who 
measured  over  ten  feet  and  who  had  four  brothers  equally 
monstrous.  (II  Sam.  21: 10-20;  I  Chron.  20:  4.)  From 
them,  also,  came  the  Rephaim  of  Bashan,  the  last  of  whom 
was  Og,  king  of  Bashan,  whose  bedstead  of  iron  measured 
some  fourteen  feet.     (Deut.  3:11.) 

Every  nation  of  antiquity,  moreover,  possessed  legends 
of  an  aboriginal  race  of  giants  who  lived  after  the  Golden 
Age  and  before  the  Flood,  but  whether  these  were  physic- 
ally giants  or  not  does  not  matter,  for  the  ancients  named 
things  and  persons  after  spiritual  qualities  rather  than 
natural  conditions.  The  words  "there  were  giants  m  the 
earth  in  those  days"  is  not  an  expression  of  admiration 
but  of  horror,— horror  at  the  monstrous  imaginations  and 
persuasions  of  self -exaltation  and  self-worship  which  at  that 
time  existed  among  men. 

Antediluvian  Persuasions. 

Abstractly  considered,  the  "Nephilim"  stand  for  gigan- 
tic persuasions  of  self-conceit,  the  like  of  which  never  pos- 
sessed men  before  or  after  those  days.  Persuasion  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  Conviction.  Conviction  is  a  good 
affection  confirmed  by  genuine  truth.  Persuasion  is  an 
evil   affection   confirmed  by  truth  perverted.       The   very 


140  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

term  ''persuasion"  involves  the  idea  of  some  irrational 
notion  binding  the  mind  by  sweet  flattery  appealing  to  the 
external  senses  or  "feelings"  of  emotion,  rather  than  by 
the  stern  logic  of  solid  argiunent.  Take  for  instance  the 
persuasion  that  man  is  saved  by  an  instantaneous  conver- 
sion through  faith  alone.  The  exhorter  appeals  chiefly  to 
the  feeling  of  fear — the  fear  of  sudden  death  and  subse- 
quent hell-fire;  having  properly  shaken  his  hearers  into  a 
panic,  throwing  all  rational  thought  into  confusion  by  this 
fear,  he  next  holds  himself  up  as  one  purer  than  snow, 
saved  and  sanctified  in  an  instance  by  a  mere  turning  of 
the  mind.  No  repentance  is  needed,  no  shunning  of  evils, 
no  works  of  charity.  The  sinner,  having  risen  from  the 
"mourner's  bench,"  is  henceforth  as  one  of  the  angels  in 
heaven,  and  the  "weaknesses  of  the  flesh"  are  no  longer 
imputed  to  him  as  sins.  No  wonder  this  "persuasion"  is 
the  very  palladium  of  the  Protestant  Religion,  and  is  im- 
possible to  eradicate  with  those  once  fully  captured  by  it! 

Such  "persuasions  immensely  increase  when  men  mingle 
truths  with  cupidities,  or  compel  truths  to  favor  the  love 
of  self  and  the  love  of  the  world:  for  then  in  a  thousand 
ways  they  pervert  these  truths  and  force  them  into  agree- 
ment with  the  lusts."  (A.  C.  794.)  The  wretched  de- 
scendants of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  were  completely 
filled  with  such  persuasions,  which  with  them  assumed  gi- 
gantic proportions  because  they  were  the  perv^ersions  of 
celestial  truths.  And  chief  of  these  persuasions  was  the 
profane  notion  that  they  themselves  were  gods,  and  that 
there  was  no  other  God  in  the  universe. 

Having  received  from  their  ancestors  the  knowledge  that 
man  was  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  they 
persuaded  themselves  that  they  were  not  only  like  God  but 
were  actually  Divine.  Knowing  that  in  the  creation  of 
man  God  breathed  His  Spirit  into  the  nostrils  of  Adam, 
they  persuaded  themselves  that  God  had  thereby  trans- 
fused all  His  Divinity  into  man,  that  He  had  breathed  Him- 
self away.  This  notion  had  its  rise  in  the  insane  whisper- 
ing of  the  serpent  that  "in  the  day  ye  eat  of  the  fruit  of 
the  tree  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  God. ' ' 


TEE  ANTEDILUVIANS.  141 

(Gen.  3:5.)  ''This  dire  persuasion,"  says  Swedenborg, 
"that  God  had  transfused  and  transferred  Himself  into 
men,  was  held  by  the  men  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  at 
its  end,  when  it  was  consummated.  This  I  have  heard  from 
their  own  mouths;  and  on  account  of  that  horrible  belief, 
that  they  consequently  were  gods,  they  lie  deeply  hidden 
in  a  cavern  near  to  which  no  one  can  approach  without 
being  seized  by  an  inward  dizziness  which  causes  him  to 
fall."  (T.  C.  E.  470.)  ''They  had  thought  much  about 
God,  but  had  persuaded  themselves  that  there  is  no  God, 
but  that  men  are  gods,  and  thus  that  they  themselves  were 
gods,  and  they  confirmed  themselves  in  these  persuasions  by 
their  dreams."     (A.  C.  1268.) 

"The  people  before  the  flood  were  such  that  at  last  they 
had  almost  no  remains  [of  good  and  truth],  because  they 
were  of  such  a  genius  that  they  became  imbued  with  dire- 
ful and  abominable  persuasions  concerning  all  things  that 
occurred  to  them  or  came  into  their  thought,  so  that  they 
would  not  go  back  from  them  one  whit,  but  they  supposed 
themselves  to  be  as  gods,  and  that  whatever  they  thought 
was  Divine.  No  such  persuasion  has  ever  existed  in  any 
people  before  or  since,  for  it  is  deadly  and  suffocating,  and 
therefore  in  the  other  life  antediluvians  cannot  be  with  any 
other  spirits,  for  when  they  are  present  they  take  away 
from  them  all  power  of  thought  by  injecting  their  fear- 
fully determined  persuasions."     (A.  C.  562.) 

The  idea  that  man  is  god,  and  the  only  god  in  existence, 
did  not  perish,  however,  when  the  antediluvians  met  their 
doom  in  the  great  flood ;  it  exists  at  this  day,  and  is  openly 
proclaimed  as  the  acme  of  philosophic  truth  by  the  various 
schools  of  Positivism,  Monism,  and  Agnosticism  generally. 
It  lies,  in  fact,  at  the  bottom  of  all  forms  of  Atheism,  and 
those  who  are  possessed  by  this  persuasion  are  called  "mod- 
em Antediluvians,"  of  whom  there  are  great  numbers  at 
this  day  in  the  hells  of  former  Christians.  (See  A.  C. 
1673,  2754;  S.  D.  3594,  4449,  5354.)  This  persuasion, 
nevertheless,  is  not  at  this  day  so  intimately  bound  up  with 
the  loves  of  the  will  as  it  was  among  the  antediluvians, 
but  is  more  in  the  nature  of  an  enormous  intellectual  stu- 


142  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

pidity.  Many  may  claim,  but  few  really  believe,  that  tbey 
are  "gods." 

''When  such  a  persuasion  takes  possession  of  a  man,  it 
is  like  glue  which  catches  in  its  sticky  embrace  the  goods 
and  truths  which  otherv\dse  would  constitute  'remains';* 
the  result  of  this  is  that  remains  can  no  longer  be  stored 
up,  and  those  which  have  been  stored  up  can  be  of  no  use ; 
and,  therefore,  when  these  people  arrived  at  the  summit 
of  such  persuasion  they  became  extinct  and  were  suffocated 
by  an  inundation  not  unlike  a  flood."     (A.  C.  563.) 

We  fancy  that  it  was  this  deadly  persuasion  which  the 
ancient  imaged  by  the  head  of  Medusa,  the  daughter  of 
Titans,  every  hair  of  whose  head  was  a  writhing  serpent, 
and  whose  aspect  was  so  terrible,  (the  word  gorgon  means 
"terrible"),  as  to  turn  the  beholder  into  stone.  This  mon- 
ster was  finally  killed  by  Perseus  and  her  head  was  affixed 
to  the  shield  of  Minerva  to  represent  the  fact  that  this  fear- 
ful persuasion  of  the  antediluvians  was  exposed  by  the 
Doctrine  of  Truth  in  the  Ancient  Church. 

As  a  race  the  antediluvians  perished  in  the  flood,  but  a 
remnant  lingered  for  ages  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  divided 
into  seven  horrible  tribes  known  as  the  Avim,  the  Anakim, 
the  Horim,  the  Emim,  the  Zuzim,  the  Zamzummim,  and 
the  Rephaim.  These  seven  tribes,  which  in  the  Word  are 
included  under  the  collective  name  of  Nephilim,  are  all  de- 
scribed as  men  of  gigantic  stature  and  fearful  aspect  and 
habits, — a  savage  and  vicious  race  of  robbers  and  murder- 
ers, living  like  wild  beasts  in  caves  and  ruins,  yet  preserv- 
ing some  sort  of  tribal  organization  by  which  they  were 
able  to  resist  the  successive  invasions  of  Hittites  and  Ca- 
naanites,  until  the  coming  of  Chedorlaomer  and  the  He- 
brews. 

Of  these  Nephilim  the  tribe  called  Avm,  (literally 
"ruined  ones"),  lived  at  one  time  in  the  coast-land  after- 
wards occupied  by  the  Philistines.  Better  known  are  the 
Anakim,  ("long-necked  ones"),  who  lived  in  Hebron  until 
they  were  finally  destroyed  by  Joshua.   The  Horim,  ('cave- 

*  This  is  what  is  meant  by  Saturn  devouring  his  new-born  infants. 


TBE  ANTEDILUVIANS.  143 

dwellers"),  dwelt  in  Mount  Seir  until  exterminated  by  the 
children  of  Esau.  The  Emim,  C 'terrible  ones"),  lived  to 
the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  in  the  territory  afterwards  occu- 
pied by  the  Moabites.  The  Zuzim  and  the  Zamzummim 
were  so  named  by  their  conquerors  because  of  the  "buzz- 
ing" sound  of  their  speech;  they  lived  in  Mount  Gilead 
and  were  subdued  by  the  Ammonites.  The  Rephaim,  fin- 
ally, who  lived  in  the  land  of  Bashan,  seem  to  have  been 
the  worst  of  all.  Their  name  is  said  to  be  derived  from  a 
root  meaning  "to  sink  down,  to  be  unstrung  with  fear," 
probably  on  account  of  the  impression  they  made  upon 
strangers.  In  the  Authorized  Version  the  name  Rephaim 
is  usually  translated  by  "the  dead,"  and  in  the  Phoenician 
inscriptions  their  name  is  used  as  an  expression  of  horror 
and  execration,  and  as  meaning  the  haunting  ghosts  of  in- 
fernal spirits.  Concerning  these  aboriginal  tribes  of  Pales- 
tine we  have  treated  at  greater  length  in  our  Correspond- 
ences OF  Canaan,  pp.  51-62.  They  one  and  all  signify 
most  foul  and  horrible  persuasions  of  falsity  arising  from  a 
profound  love  of  self. 

Life  among  the  Antediluvians. 

But  few  details  are  given  in  the  Writings  concerning  the 
life  of  the  people  who  lived  in  the  days  before  the  flood, 
but  those  that  have  been  revealed  are  of  interest  as  illus- 
trating the  decline  of  the  Golden  Age.  Among  other 
things  Swedenborg  speaks  of  some  of  these  antediluvians, 
"not  of  those  who  perished,  but  of  those  who  were  some- 
what better.  At  first  they  flowed  in  rather  gently  and  im- 
perceptibly, but  it  was  given  me  to  perceive  that  interiorly 
they  were  evil,  and  that  interiorly  they  acted  contrary  to 
love.  There  exhaled  from  them  a  sphere  of  the  odor  of 
a  dead  body,  so  that  the  spirits  who  were  about  me  fled 
away.  They  imagined  themselves  to  be  so  subtle  that  no 
one  could  perceive  what  they  thought.  I  spoke  with  them 
about  the  Lord,  as  to  whether  or  not  they  had  expected 
Him,  as  their  fathers  did.  They  said  that  they  had  repre- 
sented the  Lord  to  themselves  as  an  aged  and  holy  man 


144  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

with  a  gray  beard,  and  they  said  further  that  they  were 
made  holy  from  Him,  and  in  like  manner  bearded.  Hence 
arose  the  great  veneration  for  beards  among  their  descend- 
ants. They  added  that  now  also  they  are  able  to  adore 
Him,  but  from  themselves.  But  then  an  angel  came,  whose 
presence  they  could  not  endure."     (A.  C.  1124.) 

' '  It  was  shown  me  how  their  women  were  clothed.  They 
wore  upon  the  head  a  round  black  hat,  projecting  turret- 
like in  front,  and  they  had  small  faces,  but  the  men  were 
shaggy  and  hairy.  It  was  shown  me  also  how  they  gloried 
in  the  great  number  of  their  children,  and  that  they  had 
their  children  with  them  wherever  they  went,  the  children 
walking  before  them  in  a  curved  line.  But  they  were  told 
that  all  brute  animals,  even  the  worst  of  them,  also  have  a 
love  for  their  young,  and  that  this  is  no  evidence  that  there 
is  anything  good  in  them ;  but  that  if  they  had  loved  chil- 
dren, not  from  the  love  of  self  and  self-glory,  but  from 
the  love  of  seeing  human  society  increased  for  the  sake  of 
the  common  good, — and  especially  if  they  had  loved  their 
children  because  by  them  heaven  would  be  increased, — and 
thus  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord, — then  their 
love  of  children  would  have  been  genuine."     (A.  C.  1272.) 

Thus,  in  whatever  they  loved,  or  thought,  or  did,  the 
love  of  self  and  of  dominion  entered  in,  defiling  and  pro- 
faning every  good  and  truth,  until  at  last  they  ''could 
no  longer  visibly  express  any  idea  of  thought,  but  what  was 
most  deformed."  (A.  C.  607.)  And  then  the  Judgment 
came  upon  them. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NOAH  AND  THE  FLOOD. 

The  Church  of  the  Golden  Age  had  come  to  its  end,  and 
the  human  race  was  threatened  with  universal  destruction 
through  the  ever-growing  increase  of  hereditary  evil  and 
through  the  overwhelming  influence  and  power  of  the  ma- 
lignant forces  that  were  gathering  in  the  spiritual  world. 
A  Judgment  had  to  come  or  no  flesh  could  have  been  saved. 
But  the  hour  of  midnight  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  day. 

The  Beginning  of  a  New  Church. 

The  first  indication  of  a  new  state  is  expressed  in  the 
words:  '^And  Noah  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah. 
Noah  was  a  man  righteous  and  perfect  in  his  generations. 
Noah  walked  with  God."     (Gen.  6:  8,  9.) 

Degeneration,  as  well  as  regeneration,  is  always  an  in- 
dividual process.  In  a  dying  Church  all  do  not  rush  simul- 
taneously to  the  same  degree  of  corruption,  but  there  are 
always  a  few  who  remain  in  a  somewhat  better  state  than 
the  vast  majority.  These  constitute  "the  remnant"  of  the 
former  Church  such  as  it  was  in  its  purer  states,  and  it  is 
to  this  remnant  or  to  these  remains  of  faith  and  love  that 
the  Lord  appears  in  a  new  Advent  or  Revelation.  Such  re- 
mains are  always  few  at  the  end  of  a  Church,  but  these  few, 
when  collected,  inaugurated  and  instructed,  serve  as  a  nu- 
cleus or  parent  stock  for  the  New  Church  which  is  after- 
wards established  in  its  fullness  among  those  who  before 
had  been  in  a  gentile  condition.  This  nucleus  of  upright 
people,  lingering  in  the  midst  of  the  corrupt  Antediluvians, 
are  represented  collectively  by  the  name  Noah,  a  word 
which  literally  signifies  ''to  rest,"  "to  remain." 

The  persons  thus  represented  were  not,  indeed,  of  the 

145 


146  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

same  celestial  genius  as  their  remote  ancestors  of  the 
Golden  Age,  but  were  to  a  verj^  great  extent  contaminated 
with  the  evils  of  the  age  and  society  in  which  they  lived. 
''For  every  man  had  become  corporeal,  not  only  the 
Nephilim  or  Antediluvians,  but  also  those  called  'Noah,' 
before  they  were  regenerated."  (A.  C.  628.)  As  with  the 
others,  so  with  the  Noachites,  the  voluntary  faculty  had 
become  corrupt  and  filled  with  all  kinds  of  sensual  lusts, 
as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  ' '  ark ' '  which  they  built, 
— i.  e.,  their  general  state, — was  made  of  gopher  wood, 
which  is  a  highly  inflammable  material,  abounding  in  sul- 
phur; and  this  structure,  moreover,  was  "pitched  within 
and  without  with  pitch,"  (Gen.  6: 14), — i.  e.,  contaminated 
with  the  lusts  and  falsities  prevailing  in  their  gener- 
ation. 

Nevertheless,  "Noah  was  a  man  righteous  and  perfect. 
Noah  walked  with  God. ' '  This  does  not  describe  the  actual 
state  of  Noah  before  his  regeneration,  "but  as  to  what  he 
was  capable  of  becoming,  namely,  that  by  the  knowledges 
of  faith  he  might  be  gifted  with  charity."  "Righteous" 
signifies  the  good  of  charity.  "Perfect"  or  upright  signi- 
fies the  truth  of  charity,  and  "to  walk  with  God, "  ( as  was 
also  said  of  Enoch),  means  to  possess  the  doctrine  of  faith. 
(A.  C.  615.)  All  that  remained  with  them  was  "a  kind 
of  rational  truth  and  natural  good,  and  therefore  they  could 
be  regenerated."     (A.  C.  628.) 

Before  their  regeneration,  therefore,  there  did  not  exist 
with  these  people  any  genuine  spiritual  love  of  good,  but 
only  a  species  of  natural  good,  or  of  natural  integritj^,  hon- 
esty and  decency,  not  yet  purified  by  the  trials  of  tempta- 
tion, but  still  remaining  as  a  plane  or  vessel  for  the  future 
reception  of  spiritual  life.  Nor  did  they,  at  first,  possess 
any  genuine  understanding  of  spiritual  truth,  but  there  re- 
mained with  them  a  certain  intellectual  faculty,  enabling 
them  to  receive  natural  rational  truth.  This  was  the  ' '  win- 
dow" in  Noah's  ark,  through  which  the  light  of  heaven 
could  flow  in  to  illumine  his  spiritual  darkness.  And  the 
"door"  of  the  ark,  through  which  Noah  later  on  could  go 
forth  into  a  new  life,  signifies  a  remaining  affection  of 


NOAE  AND  THE  FLOOD.  147 

truth,  which  is  the  only  door  leading  to  the  good  of  life. 
(A.  C.  651.) 

There  remained,  finally,  with  them  the  traditions  of 
heavenly  doctrine  handed  down  from  their  celestial  an- 
cestors,— the  book  or  books  written  by  Cain  and  Enoch. 
This  code,  which  had  been  hidden  from  the  fury  of  the 
Nephilim,  was  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the  Noachites,  and 
from  it  they  learned  not  only  general  principles  of  spirit- 
ual truth  and  good,  but  also  the  science  of  correspondences, 
which  became  the  science  of  sciences  in  the  Church  of  the 
Silver  Age.  Without  this  key  they  could  not  have  entered 
into  the  spiritual  sense  of  those  Scriptures  which  were  sub- 
sequently given  to  the  Ancient  Church  itself.  The  teach- 
ings contained  in  the  book  of  Enoch  were  therefore  the 
first  means  of  Divine  Revelation  to  the  Church  of  Noah. 
This  code  was  their  Word,  in  which  they  believed  with  a 
simple  faith.     (A.  C.  736,  1068,  1071,  1409,  2897,  3432.) 

The  Separation  op  the  Will  and  the 
Understanding. 

These  doctrines  of  truth  could  be  of  no  practical  use  to 
the  completely  corrupted  descendants  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church,  with  whom  the  will  and  the  understanding  acted  as 
one  faculty,  for  with  such  a  people  every  truth  of  heaven 
was  instantly  swallowed  up  by  the  perverted  will,  (just  as 
Saturn  swallowed  his  new-bom  children),  and  was  turned 
into  a  falsity  still  further  confirming  the  evil  lusts.  These 
monsters  of  old  were  Cyclops,  possessing  but  a  single  eye, 
and  that  eye  was  evil.  Their  will  had  become  infernal  lust, 
their  understanding  mere  persuasion.  They  could  see  noth- 
ing but  that  which  flattered  their  lust,  and  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  recognize  their  own  depraved  nature.  They 
were  therefore  hopelessly  lost. 

But  with  the  Noachites,  who  had  not  sunk  to  the  same 
depth  of  corruption,  a  great  change  was  miraculously  ef- 
fected by  means  of  a  new  mental  creation, —  a  total  re- 
organization of  the  mind,  resulting  in  a  separation  of  the 
understanding  from  the  depraved  will.     This  separation  is 


148  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

described  in  the  Word  by  the  '' mansions"  or  "stories" 
which  Noah  was  commanded  to  make  in  the  ark.  The  low- 
est part  of  the  ark, — i.  e.,  the  evil  will, — was  shut  in  and 
pitched  over  with  pitch:  it  was  covered  up  and  closed,  lest 
the  evil  lusts  of  the  hereditary  proprium  should  arise  and 
overwhelm  the  understanding,  which  now  was  formed  into 
a  higher  mansion,  fit  to  live  in  by  virtue  of  the  windows  of 
spiritual  intelligence  that  was  open  to  the  light  and  atmos- 
phere of  heaven. 

This  separation  was  effected  by  the  Lord  through  the 
implantation  of  a  Conscience  which  henceforth  stood  be- 
tween the  rational  understanding  and  the  insane  will.  (A. 
C.  863.)  There  remained  in  Noah,  as  was  said,  something 
of  a  natural  rational  quality  still  unperverted,  by  means 
of  which  he  was  still  able  to  judge  of  the  ratio  or  relation 
between  good  and  evil,  and  between  truth  and  falsity ;  and 
he  was  thus  able  also  to  view  himself  in  the  light  of  heaven. 
This  natural-rational  faculty  of  discrimination  was  im- 
planted in  him  from  early  infancy  not  only  by  means  of 
direct  instruction,  but  also  by  means  of  castigations  and 
vicissitudes  of  various  kinds,  resulting  in  a  state  of  fear, 
— at  first  the  fear  of  punishments,  afterguards  fear  of  the 
evil  that  leads  to  such  punishment,  and  finally  the  fear  of 
hurting  with  himself  that  which  is  good  and  true.  This 
fear,  which  is  the  fear  of  God  and  the  beginning  of  all 
wisdom,  is  the  basis  of  that  warning  voice  which  is  called 
Conscience  with  the  man  of  the  spiritual  genius,  and  which 
with  him  takes  the  place  of  the  native  love  of  God  and  the 
celestial  perception  that  existed  among  the  men  of  the 
Golden  Age. 

Thus  Jehovah  God  in  His  mercy  established  in  Noah  a 
protecting  barrier  against  the  inundation  of  the  flood  which 
now  oven\'helmed  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  within  and 
above  this  separating  plane  called  Conscience  the  Lord 
could  now  erect  a  new  temple  for  Himself,  a  new  dwelling 
place  in  which  to  operate  for  the  eternal  salvation  of  the 
human  race. 

Having  thus  established  in  man  a  new  means  of  salva- 
tion, a  new  power  by  which  man  was  able  to  compel  him- 


NOAE  AND  TEE  FLOOD.  149 

self  to  resist  the  impulses  of  the  evil  will,  the  Lord  now 
commanded  Noah  to  enter  into  the  ark  and  to  take  with 
him  beasts  and  birds  of  every  kind,  both  clean  and  unclean. 
The  man  of  the  Church  called  Noah  inherited  and  carried 
over  with  him  into  the  Silver  Age  all  kinds  of  thoughts 
and  affections,  both  clean  and  unclean,  and  because  of  this 
mixed  company  there  ensued  with  him  a  state  of  tempta- 
tions represented  by  the  forty  days  and  forty  nights  dur- 
ing which  the  flood  endured.  That  the  nimiber  ''forty" 
throughout  the  Word  signifies  a  state  of  temptations  is 
readily  seen  from  the  forty  years  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
desert,  and  the  forty  days  of  the  Lord's  own  temptations 
in  the  wilderness.  It  is  represented  in  human  nature  it- 
self by  the  forty  weeks  of  suffering  which  a  mother  endures 
while  carrying  her  child. 

But  ' '  God  remembered  Noah. ' '  Gradually  the  fountains 
of  the  abyss  and  the  cataracts  of  heaven  were  closed.  A 
wind  was  made  to  pass  over  the  earth.  The  waters  as- 
suaged, and  finally  the  ark  rested  upon  the  mountains  of 
Ararat.  As  the  most  external  evils  of  the  proprium  were 
gradually  subdued  by  means  of  the  Conscience,  the  "win- 
dow" of  the  new  intelligence  could  come  more  and  more 
into  its  true  use.  Though  the  "raven,"  sent  out  from  the 
ark,  went  to  and  fro  upon  the  waters,  and  though  the 
"dove"  at  first  returned  empty  to  Noah,— though  falsities 
still  for  a  time  occasioned  disturbances  with  the  man  of  this 
new  Church,  because  there  still  lingered  some  belief  in  his 
own  power, — yet  after  a  time  the  dove  returned  with  an 
olive  leaf  in  her  mouth  as  a  sign  of  progress  in  regener- 
ation. And  when  at  last  the  dove  returned  no  more, — 
when  the  thought  of  good  no  longer  reflected  upon  his  own 
righteousness,— Noah  knew  that  the  ground  was  dry.  Self- 
confidence  had  at  last  been  subdued  through  the  trials  of 
temptation,  and  now  a  great  new  light  appeared,  the  moun- 
tains of  Ararat,  a  name  which  literally  signifies  the  "moun- 
tains of  light."  Noah  could  now  freely  leave  his  ark  of 
gopher-wood,  having  mastered  the  tendencies  of  his  heredi- 
tary proprium,  and  he  now  could  build  an  altar  unto  Je- 
hovah and  offer  burnt  offering  thereupon.     A  new  spiritual 


150  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Church  was  now  safely  established,  and  an  internal  and 
at  the  same  time  external  and  representative  worship  could 
be  instituted. 

The  Flood. 

''The  morning  cometh,  and  the  night  also."  As  the 
light  increased  in  the  new  Church,  so  the  darkness  grew 
in  the  former  Church.  The  influx  of  falsity  and  evil  which 
to  the  Noaehites  were  the  source  of  temptations,  was  to 
the  antediluvians  a  devastating  inundation  which  at  last 
caused  the  extermination  of  the  miserable  race. 

By  those  who  are  evil  all  misfortunes  are  ascribed  to  the 
punishing  vengeance  of  God,  and  this  appearance  is  not 
only  inevitable  but  necessary.  The  letter  of  the  Word  is 
written  in  the  language  of  appearances  and  therefore  it  is 
said  that  God  brought  the  flood  upon  mankind:  "And  7, 
behold  I  do  bring  the  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to 
destroy  all  flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life  from  under 
the  heavens;  everything  that  is  on  the  eai^th  shall  expire/' 
(Gen.  6:17.) 

That  no  literal  flood  or  universal  deluge  of  water  is  here 
meant  is  evident  from  the  small  dimensions  of  Noah's  ark, 
which  could  not  possibly  have  contained  space  for  repre- 
sentative specimens  of  all  the  animals  in  the  world  together 
with  their  food  for  forty  days.  Moreover,  in  order  to 
cover  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  there  would  be 
required  a  volume  of  water  extending  five  miles  above  the 
present  sea-leavel,  and  such  an  inundation  for  so  long  a 
period  would  have  destroyed  under  its  fearful  pressure 
not  only  the  animal  kingdom  but  also  the  whole  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  the  dove  would  never  have  been  able  to  find 
an  olive  leaf.  But  by  the  ''flood"  is  meant  a  spiritual 
deluge,  an  all-destructive  influx  of  evil  lusts  and  false 
persuasions  from  the  opened  hells,  (it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  men  still  had  open  communication  with  the  spir- 
itual world,  but  now  no  longer  with  the  angels  of  heaven 
but  with  the  devils  of  hell),  and  when  at  last  the  Nephilim 
had  "arrived  at  the  summit  of  persuasion,  they  became  ex- 
tinct of  their  own  accord,  and  were  suffocated  by  an  inun- 


NOAK  AND  TEE  FLOOD.  151 

dation  not  unlike  a  flood ;  and  therefore  their  extinction  is 
compared  to  a  flood  and  was  also  thus  described  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  ancients."     (A.  C.  563.) 

Even  in  the  present  age  men  speak  in  similar  terms  of 
the  movements  of  the  mind  and  of  the  intellectual  world. 
There  are  "currents"  and  ''waves"  of  thought,  a  "stream" 
of  ideas,  a  "flood"  of  various  popular  notions,  and  this  is 
because  influx  from  the  spiritual  world  is  an  actual  stream 
of  affections  and  thoughts,— the  influx  from  heaven  being  a 
gentle  and  almost  imperceptible  flow,  but  the  influx  from 
hell  a  wild  and  devastating  deluge  of  furious  lusts  and  in- 
sane phantasies  which  actually  let  loose  an  over-supply  of 
gall  into  the  blood  and  sometimes  cause  physical  death. 

"In  that  day  were  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  broken 
up,  and  the  cataracts  of  heaven  were  opened.''  (Gen.  7: 
11.)  The  fountains  of  the  deep  are  the  evils  arising  from 
hell,  and  the  cataracts  of  heaven  (the  sky)  are  the  false 
persuasions  pouring  in  from  the  spiritual  world.  (A.  C. 
756,  757.)  "And  the  waters  were  strengthened  exceed- 
ingly upon  the  earth,  and  all  the  high  mountains  were  cov- 
ered.'' (Gen.  7 :  19.)  The  persuasions  of  falsity  increased 
unceasingly  throughout  the  doomed  Church,  and  all  the 
high  mountains  of  celestial  love  were  covered  by  evils  of 
life  until  nothing  of  charity  remained.     (A.  C.  792.) 

"And  all  flesh  died  that  crept  upon  the  earth  .  .  .  and 
every  man;  all  in  whose  nostrils  was  the  breathing  of  the 
breath  of  life,  of  all  that  was  on  the  dry  land,  died."  (Gen., 
7:  21,  22.)  Every  thought  of  truth  and  every  affection  of 
good  perished  with  the  last  generation  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church,  and  flnally  the  men  themselves  became  extinct. 
"As  regards  the  man  of  the  Church  before  the  flood,  he 
in  course  of  time  conceived  direful  persuasions,  and  im- 
mersed the  goods  and  truths  of  faith  in  foul  lusts,  in  so 
much  that  there  were  scarcely  any  remains  with  them ;  and 
when  they  came  into  this  state  they  were  suffocated  as  if 
of  themselves,  for  man  cannot  live  without  remains."  (A. 
C.  560.) 

The  physical  reason  for  this  suffocation  and  as  it  were 
drowning,  was  that  little  by  little  the  internal  respiration, 


152  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

— the  "breathing  of  the  breath  of  life,"  which  was  enjoyed 
by  the  men  of  the  Golden  Age, — came  to  an  end ;  and  ' '  with 
those  who  were  possessed  by  these  dreadful  persuasions  and 
phantasies,  it  became  such  that  they  could  no  longer  present 
any  idea  of  thought  except  the  most  debased,  the  effect  of 
which  was  that  they  could  not  survive,  and  therefore  they 
became  extinct."     (A.  C.  607,  805.) 

"It  was  shown  that  the  internal  respiration  of  the  men 
of  the  ]\Iost  Ancient  Church, — which  was  from  the  navel 
toAvard  the  interior  region  of  the  breast, — was  changed,  and 
receded  more  toward  the  region  of  the  back,  and  toward 
the  abdomen,  thus  more  outward  and  downward;  and  that 
at  length  in  the  last  posterity  of  that  Church,  which  ex- 
isted immediately  before  the  flood,  scarcely  anything  of  in- 
ternal respiration  remained;  and  when  at  last  there  re- 
mained none  of  this  in  the  breast,  they  were  suffocated  of 
themselves,  but  witli  some  external  respiration  then  be- 
gan, and  with  it  articulate  sound  or  the  language  of  spoken 
words.  Thus,  with  the  men  before  the  flood,  the  respiration 
was  in  accordance  with  the  state  of  their  love  and  faith; 
and  at  last,  when  there  was  no  love  and  no  faith,  but  only  a 
persuasion  of  falsity,  internal  respiration  ceased,  and  with 
this  also  the  immediate  communication  with  angels,  and 
perception."     (A.  C.  1120.) 

In  Tartarus. 

When,  after  death,  the  Nephilim  entered  the  spiritual 
world,  they  herded  together  there  in  the  first,  deepest,  and 
most  terrible  of  all  the  hells.  Concerning  their  condition 
in  that  direful  place  we  are  told  a  great  many  things  in 
the  Revelation  given  to  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

"They  can  never  be  where  other  spirits  are,  but  are 
separated  from  the  other  hells  and  are  kept  at  a  distance 
from  the  world  of  spirits.  They  are  neither  permitted  to 
ascend,  nor  can  anyone  be  let  in  among  them."  (A.  C. 
1266.) 

The  reason  for  this  separation  is  that  "they  so  kill  and 
suffocate  all  spirits  with  their  most  dreadful  phantasies, 


NOAR  AND  THE  FLOOD.  153 

which  exhale  as  a  poisonous  sphere  from  them,  that  the 
spirits  are  deprived  of  the  power  of  thinking  and  feel  half 
dead;  and  unless  the  Lord  by  His  coming  into  the  world 
had  freed  the  world  of  spirits  from  that  poisonous  brood, 
no  one  could  have  existed  there,  and  in  consequence  the 
human  race  would  have  perished,  since  it  is  ruled  by  the 
Lord  by  means  of  spirits.  They  are  therefore  now  kept 
in  a  hell  as  it  were  beneath  a  misty  and  dense  rock,  be- 
neath the  heel  of  the  left  foot,  nor  do  they  make  the  slight- 
est attempt  to  rise  out  of  it.  Thus  the  world  of  spirits  is 
free  from  this  most  dangerous  crew.  .  .  .  But  it  has  been 
provided  by  the  Lord  that  mankind  should  never  again  be- 
come imbued  with  such  dreadful  phantasies  and  persua- 
sions."    (A.  C.  584,  1266.) 

''Those  of  them  who  obstinately  try  to  emerge  from  that 
hell  are  cruelly  treated  by  their  companions;  for  they  are 
possessed  with  deadly  hatred  against  all,  even  against  their 
own  companions.  Their  greatest  delight  consists  in  hold- 
ing each  other  in  subjection  and  as  it  were  in  butchering 
each  other.  Those  who  more  resolutely  persist  in  their  en- 
deavor to  force  their  way  out  are  sent  down  still  deeper 
under  that  misty  rock;  for  it  is  their  innate  crazy  ardor 
to  destroy  all,  which  leads  them  on;  hence  their  efforts 
to  emerge.  They  wrap  all  they  meet  in  a  cloth,  in  order 
to  take  them  captive,  and  cast  them  into  a  certain  sea,  as 
it  appears  to  them,  or  otherwise  treat  them  savagely." 
(A.  C.  1267.) 

"I  was  led,  guarded,  toward  that  misty  rock;  (to  be  led 
to  such  spirits  is  not  to  be  led  from  place  to  place,  but  it  is 
effected  by  means  of  intermediate  societies  of  spirits  and 
angels,  the  man  remaining  in  the  same  place ;  and  yet  it  ap- 
pears to  him  as  a  letting  down) .  As  I  came  near  the  rock  I 
was  met  w^ith  a  coldness  which  gripped  the  lower  region 
of  my  back."     (A.  C.  1268.) 

After  having  been  totally  vastated,  "the  antediluvians 
can  serve  as  subjects,  retaining  only  so  much  life  as  there 
is  in  the  bony  parts  of  the  human  body.  .  .  .  They  become 
as  skeletons  or  as  lifeless  appendages,  and  life  is  after- 
wards breathed  into  them.     Being  scarcely  aware  of  their 


154  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

own  existence,  or  sensible,  or  conscious,  they  can  thus  serve 
for  bones,  [in  the  grand  monster  of  hell],  into  whom  other 
spirits  can  inflow."  (S.  D.  3912.  See  further  A.  C.  1270- 
73;  S.  D.  3359,  3365,  4217.) 

A  terribly  graphic  description  of  their  hell  is  given  in 
the  CoRONis  TO  THE  True  Christian  Religion,  n.  38: 
''The  hell  of  those  who  had  been  of  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  is  the  most  atrocious  of  all  the  hells.  It  consists  of 
those  w^ho  in  the  world  had  believed  themselves  to  be  as 
God,  according  to  the  deceitful  saying  of  the  serpent,* 
(Gen.  3:5);  and  deeper  in  that  hell  are  those  who  had 
persuaded  themselves  that  they  were  altogether  gods,  from 
the  phantasy  that  God  had  transfused  His  Divinity  into 
men,  and  that  thus  there  was  no  longer  a  God  in  the  uni- 
verse. From  this  direful  persuasion  a  deadly  stench  ex- 
hales out  of  that  hell,  which  infests  the  neighboring  regions 
with  so  fierce  a  pestilence  that  when  anyone  approaches  he 
is  at  first  seized  with  a  delirious  madness,  and  presently, 
after  convulsive  motions,  he  seems  to  himself  to  be  in  the 
agonies  of  death.  I  have  seen  a  certain  spirit  near  that 
place,  lying  down  as  if  dead,  but  on  being  removed  thence 
he  revived. 

''That  hell  lies  in  the  middle  of  the  southern  quarter, 
surrounded  with  ramparts  upon  which  stand  spirits  who 
with  the  voice  of  a  stentorian  trumpet  call  out :  '  Approach 
no  nearer!' 

' '  I  have  heard  from  the  angels  who  were  in  heaven  above 
that  hell,  that  the  evil  spirits  [cacodoBmones]  there  appear 
like  poisonous  serpents,  twisted  into  inextricable  folds, 
which  they  derive  from  their  vain  devices  and  incantations, 
by  which  they  had  persuaded  the  simple  to  acknowledge  that 
they  were  gods  and  that  there  was  no  God  beside  them. 
The  Ancients,  who  couched  everything  under  fables,  de- 
scribed these  by  the  'Giants'  who  assaulted  the  camp  of 
the  gods,  and  who  were  cast  down  by  Jove  with  his  thun- 
derbolts, and  were  thrust  beneath  the  fire-breathing  Mount 


*  Nowadays  represented  by  ' '  Christian  Science ' '  and  similar  rep- 
tiles. 


NOAB  AND  TEE  FLOOD.  155 

iEtna,  and  were  called  'Cyclops.'  They  also  called  their 
hells  'Tartarus'  and  the  'stagnant  pools  of  Acheron,'  and 
the  deeper  places  there  they  called  'Styx,'  and  those  who 
dwelt  there  they  called  'Lemsean  Hydras,'  etc." 

The  Victory  op  the  Lord  over  these  Hells. 

"They,  who,  before  the  Coming  of  the  Lord,  had  been 
of  the  Church  and  at  the  same  time  had  been  evil  as  to 
life,  were  in  such  falsity  as  had  not  been  before,  and  was 
not'to  be  afterwards.  The  reason  was  that  those  who  were 
called  Nephilim,  and  also  Anakim  and  Rephaim,  and  were 
of  the  last  posterity  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  had  not 
yet  been  shut  up  in  hell,  but  wandered  about  and  infused 
dire  and  deadly  persuasions  wherever  they  could,  thus  also 
into  those  who  were  evil  in  the  [Ancient]  Church.  This 
was  the  source  of  such  falsity."     (A.  C.  7686.) 

The  influence  of  these  antediluvian  spirits  is  very  evi- 
dent in  the  history  of  the  Ancient  Church  and  of  the  classic 
world,  especially  in  the  insane  love  of  battle  and  conquest, 
dominion  and  tyranny,  which  arose  in  the  declining  days 
of  the  Silver  Age,  to  fill  with  blood  and  tragedy  the  his- 
tory of  Chaldea  and  Egypt,  Assyria  and  Babylon,  Media 
and  Persia,  Greece  and  Rome,  where  kings  and  emperors 
demanded  to  be  worshiped  as  gods.  In  Rome,  especially, 
this  love  of  dominion  culminated  about  the  time  of  the 
Lord's  Coming,  producing  monsters  on  earth  such  as 
Marius  and  Sulla,  Tiberius,  Caligula,  Nero  and  Caracalla, 
persons  clearly  possessed  by  the  devils  of  the  Nephilim. 
In  Palestine,  also,  these  devils  were  rampant,  actually  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  bodies  of  men  and  filling  the  land 
with  a  continual  uproar,  slaughter,  frenzy  and  madness. 
At  the  head  of  this  possessed  nation  of  the  Jews  stood 
Herod,  the  most  furious  madman  of  all,  who  murdered  his 
vTives  and  his  own  sons  and  massacred  the  babes  of  Beth- 
lehem. With  a  cunning  born  from  the  hells  of  the  Nephilim, 
he  knew  that  the  Messiah  was  about  to  be  bom,  and  with 
tUir  fear  in  his  heart  he  "privily  called  the  wise  men,  in- 
quiring of  them  diligently  what  time  the  star  had  appeared. 


156  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

and  he  sent  them  to  Bethlehem,  saying,  Go  and  search  dili- 
gently for  the  young  child,  and  when  ye  have  found  him, 
bring  me  word  again,  that  I  may  come  and  worship  him 
also."     (Matth.  2:7,  8.) 

Through  a  representative  such  as  Herod  the  hells  of  the 
Nephilim  were  lying  in  wait,  trembling  with  hatred  and 
fear,  to  destroy,  if  possible,  the  seed  of  the  woman  which 
was  to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent.  Was  it  not  prophe- 
sied that  "hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  Thee  to  meet 
Thee  at  Thy  coming;  it  stirreth  up  the  Rephaim  for  Thee, 
even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the  earth?"     (Is.  14:9.) 

"Such  were  the  wicked  tribes  against  whom  the  Lord 
fought  in  His  earliest  childhood,  and  whom  He  conquered ; 
and  unless  the  Lord  had  conquered  them  by  His  coming 
into  the  world,  not  a  man  would  have  been  left  at  this 
day  upon  the  earth,  for  every  man  is  governed  by  the  Lord 
by  means  of  spirits.  These  same  Nephilim  are  at  this  day 
enclosed  through  their  phantasies  by  what  seems  like  a 
misty  rock,  out  of  which  they  are  continually  but  in  vain 
striving  to  rise.  These,  and  others  like  them,  are  meant 
by  the  words  in  Isaiah:  'The  dead  shall  not  live;  the  Re- 
phaim shall  not  rise,  because  Thou  hast  visited  and  hast  de- 
stroyed them,  and  hast  made  all  their  memory  to  perish. '  ' ' 
(Is.'26:14;  A.  C.  1673.) 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  said  that 
Chedorlaomer,  the  king  of  Elam,  "smote  the  Rephaim  in 
Ashtaroth  Kamaim,  and  the  Zuzim  in  Cham,  and  the  Emim 
in  Shaweh  Kiriathaim,  and  the  Horim  in  their  ]\Iount 
Seir. ' '  By  Chedorlaomer,  in  the  early  chapters  of  the  story 
of  Abraham,  is  signified  the  Lord  in  His  infancy,  who  then 
fought  and  overcame  the  hells  of  the  antediluvians,  which 
were  the  first  to  attack  Him  because  possessed  of  a  cunning 
and  a  malignant  hatred  more  terrible  than  that  existing 
among  the  rest  of  the  infemals. 

How  the  infant  Saviour  could — as  of  Himself — ^have  con- 
quered these  most  malignant  of  all  the  hells  we  cannot  de- 
scribe. We  only  know  that  the  victory  is  a  fact  of  the  uni- 
versal Redemption  which  He  wrought  throughout  His  life 
on  the  earth.     We  know  also  that  the  deepest  hells  are  those 


NOAR  AND  TEE  FLOOD.  157 

which  most  furiously  hate  the  innocence  of  childhood,  and 
that  the  diseases  and  death  of  so  many  little  children  is 
due — under  Providence — to  their  infernal  malice.  We 
know,  further,  that  the  most  decisive  battles  in  our  own 
lives  are  fought,  almost  unconsciously,  in  our  own  child- 
hood m  resisting  the  beginnings  of  evil.  The  child  is  the 
father  of  the  man,  and  though  the  man  may  have  forgot- 
ten the  battles  of  his  cliildliood,  he  knows  that  then  it  was 
that  he  chose  the  particular  path  upon  which  he  is  wan- 
dering in  adult  life.  Watch  the  little  one,  and  you  will 
observe  that  he  is  continually  choosing  and  selecting,  run- 
ning into  one  mischief,  yet  resisting  the  impulse  to  run 
into  another.  The  psychology  of  the  phenomenon  can  be 
known  to  the  Lord  alone,  who  is  the  only  Father. 

The  history  of  the  Lord's  life  on  earth  is  foretold  with 
an  astounding  wealth  of  details  in  the  "Messianic  prophe- 
cies" of  the  Old  Testament.  In  the  various  books  of  the 
Ancient  Word,  also, — as  for  instance  the  book  known  as 
The  Wars  of  Jehovah, — ^these  Prophecies  must  have  been 
given  with  even  greater  details,  as  is  evident  from  the 
legends  of  a  future  Redeemer  which  abound  in  the  my- 
thologies of  all  ancient  nations.  Thus  the  combats  of  the 
infant  Lord  are  depicted  in  the  Egyptian  representations 
of  the  infant  Horus,  trampling  upon  crocodiles  and  hold- 
ing serpents  and  scorpions  captive  in  his  hands.  And  in 
the  Greek  legend  of  Hercules,  who  most  manifestly  pre- 
figures the  Messiah,  w^e  read  of  two  great  pythonic  serpents 
attacking  the  babe  in  his  cradle.  But  the  babe  reached  out 
his  chubby  fists,  grasping  a  python  in  each  hand,  strang- 
ling them  to  death.  Thus  also  the  Lord  in  His  infancy 
strangled  to  death  the  first  impulses  of  evil  arising  from  the 
deepest  of  the  hells  to  assail  the  Seed  of  the  woman. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
LEGENDS  OF  CREATION. 

Thus  far  we  have  followed  the  history  of  the  Golden 
Age  as  embodied  in  broad  outlines  in  that  portion  of  the 
Ancient  Word  which  has  been  preserved  entire  in  the  first 
seven  chapter  of  Genesis.  As  to  the  authenticity  of  these 
most  ancient  records  we  learn  that  they  were  copied  by 
Moses  from  the  Ancient  Word  and  this  with  such  care  that 
''not  even  one  little  word  is  wanting."  (S.  S.  103;  De 
Verbo  15.) 

This  primeval  Revelation  was  universally  known  through- 
out the  Ancient  Church,  the  Church  of  the  Silver  Age, 
which  flourished  after  the  flood  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
Syria,  Assyria,  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  and  afterwards 
spread  in  more  or  less  diluted  forms  to  the  gentile  nations  in 
almost  every  part  of  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa,  and,  we 
have  reasons  to  believe,  also  of  America  and  Polynesia.  In 
the  course  of  time  this  Ancient  Word  was  lost,  but  frag- 
ments were  preserved  in  the  form  of  traditions  and 
legends  which  have  been  the  common  property  of  all  the 
subsequent  ages  and  of  all  the  divergent  branches  of  our 
race. 

A  comparative  study  of  all  these  legends, — especially 
those  concerning  the  Creation  of  the  world,  the  Paradise, 
the  Fall,  and  the  Flood, — will  show  that  while  they  all  differ 
from  one  another  as  to  form,  there  are  certain  essential 
features  common  to  all,  and  that  all  of  these  essentials  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and  in  them  alone. 
This  fact  proves  incontestably  that  the  Hebrew  text,  as 
found  in  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  is  the  original  docu- 
ment from  which  all  the  gentile  legends  are  derived,  and 
that,  in  consequence,  there  is  no  foundation  for  the  claims 
of  the  "higher  critics"  that  the  Bible  presents  only  a  dis- 

158 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  159 

torted  and  vitiated  version,  or  combination  of  forged  texts, 
of  some  Chaldean  or  other  ancient  codes. 

"It  is  quite  within  the  range  of  possibility  and  reason- 
ableness," says  Prof.  Albert  T.  Clay  in  his  Light  on  the 
Old  Testament  from  Babel,  (Philadelphia,  1907,  p.  75), 
*'to  conceive  the  idea  that  both  stories  [i.  e.,  the  Baby- 
lonian Creation  story  and  the  Biblical  one]  have  a  common 
origin  among  the  Semites  who  entered  Babylonia  prior 
to  their  amalgamation  with  the  Smnerians,  and  who  may 
have  also  carried  their  traditions  into  Palestine.  Contrary 
to  the  view  held  by  some  critics,  that  the  Hebrew  story 
belongs  to  the  time  of  the  exile  or  after,  there  are  indica- 
tions that  it  belongs  to  a  great  antiquity.  And  it  is  also 
possible  that  in  some  way,  unknown  to  us,  it  had  been 
handed  down  in  a  form  more  or  less  free  from  the  fan- 
tastically polytheistic  features  of  the  Babylonian  version." 

The  comparative  study  of  these  ancient  legends  not  only 
brings  collateral  evidence  of  the  integrity  and  authenticity 
of  the  sacred  text,  but  they  in  every  case  confirm  the  Reve- 
lation given  in  the  Writings  of  Swedenborg  concerning  the 
spiritual  history  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church  and  the  An- 
cient Church,  and  this  in  a  manner  so  self-evident  and  con- 
vincing as  to  establish  our  faith  in  the  New  Revelation 
upon  an  absolutely  scientific  ground.  And,  finally,  this 
study  sheds  an  unexpected  light  upon  all  the  mythological 
systems  of  the  ancient  world,  by  affording  a  synoptic  view 
of  their  internal  harmony  with  one  another  and  with  their 
one  and  common  source, — the  Word  of  God.  And  the 
same  key  by  which  the  Lord  in  His  Second  Coming  has 
opened  the  Internal  Sense  of  His  Word,  will  unlock  also 
the  rusty  portals  of  fable  and  legend,  tradition  and  myth. 

The  Assyrian  Story  of  Creation. 

The  fragments  of  the  ancient  epic  which  are  here  pre- 
sented were  found  by  George  Smith,  ''the  father  of  As- 
syriology,"  at  Kouyunjik,  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh, 
and  first  published  to  the  modern  world  in  the  year  1875 ; 
since  then  a  number  of  other  fragments  have  been  found 


160  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

among  the  tablets  preserv^ed  in  tlie  British  Museum.  The 
text  itself  dates  from  the  time  of  Assurbanipal,  (B.  C.  668- 
626),  at  whose  command  it  was  translated  into  Assyrian 
from  a  far  more  ancient  Babylonian  text.  The  English 
version  is  that  found  in  the  work  of  Prof.  Clay,  quoted 
above,  with  which  I  have  compared  the  German  versions 
published  by  Dr.  Schrader  in  his  Keilinschriften  und 
DAS  Alte  Testament,  and  by  Dr.  Alfred  Jeremias  in  his 
Alte  Testament  im  Lichte  des  Alten  Orients,  (Leipzig 
1906). 

The  first  tablet  as  far  as  recovered,  reads  as  follows : 

''When,  above,  heaven  did  not  yet  announce. 
And  the  earth  beneath  was  not  yet  called  by  a  name. 
The  primordial  Apsu  was  their  begetter. 
Mummu  Tiamat  was  the  bearer  of  them  all ; 
Their  waters  were  mingled  together  in  one  body. 
A  field  was  not  marked,  a  marsh  was  not  seen, 
When  of  the  gods  none  was  yet  created, 
And  they  bare  not  a  name,  and  destinies  had  not  been 

fixed ; 
Then  the  gods  were  created  in  the  midst  [of  heaven]  ; 
Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu  were  called  forth. 
The  days  prolonged  themselves; 
Anshar  and  Kishar  were  created." 

With  this  ancient  fragment  compare  the  words  in  Gen- 
esis: "In  the  beginning  God  created  heaven  and  earth. 
And  the  earth  was  empty  and  void,  and  thick  darkness  upon 
the  faces  of  the  abyss :  and  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  faces  of  the  waters. ' ' 

Both  texts  begin  by  describing  the  state  of  man  before 
his  regeneration, — the  unformed  character  of  the  Preadam- 
ites  and  the  state  of  every  man  before  he  is  created  a 
spiritual  man.  There  is  with  him  an  heaven  and  an  earth, 
an  internal  and  external  man,  but  ''heaven  above  did  not 
yet  announce ' '  any  revelation  from  God  out  of  the  internal 
man,  and  the  earth  beneath  is  empty  and  void  of  good  and 
truth,  and  consequently  "was  not  yet  called  by  a  name"; 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  |6[ 

the  external  man  did  not  yet  possess  any  truly  human  qual- 
ity or  ''name." 

For  there  was  "thick  darkness  upon  the  faces  of  the 
abyss";  nothing  but  spiritual  stupor  and  gross  ignorance 
reigned  within  the  abyss  of  sensuous  appetites  in  the  natu- 
ral man.  The  ''primordial  Apsu"  was  the  Divine  be- 
getter; by  "Apsu"  is  meant  "the  house  of  wisdom,"  (Alf. 
Jeremias,  p.  7),  perhaps  the  Logos,  the  Word  "which  was 
in  the  beginning  with  God,"  and  by  which  all  things  were 
made.  But  "Mummu  Tiamat"  was  the  bearer  or  mother 
of  them  all ;  Mummu  is  the  Assyrian  word  for  the  Hebrew 
mayim,  waters;  and  "Tiamat"  is  the  same  as  the  Hebrew 
tehom,  the  abyss.  There  is  no  discrimination  as  yet  be- 
tween truth  and  falsity.  God  had  not  yet  "divided  the 
waters  from  the  waters,"  but  "their  waters  were  mingled 
together  in  one  body."  Darkness  reigned  supreme,  and 
"none  of  the  gods  was  yet  created," — none  of  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  heaven  had  as  yet  shone  forth  upon  the 
lifeless  earth  of  the  sensuous  man. 

The  first  act  of  the  spiritual  creation  is  the  revelation 
of  the  Divine  Truth.  "And  God  said.  Let  there  be  Light, 
and  there  was  Light,"  or  in  the  Assyrian  legend,  "Then 
were  the  gods  created  in  the  midst  of  heaven."  Lakhmu 
and  Lakhamu  were  called  forth.  These,  according  to  Dr. 
Jeremias  "correspond  to  the  heavenly  world,  and  Anshar 
and  Kishar  to  the  earthly  world,"  (p.  7). 

The  rest  of  the  first  tablet  describes  the  assault  of  the 
abyss-woman  Tiamat  and  her  brood  of  monsters  upon  the 
gods  of  heaven,  by  which  perhaps  is  signified  the  first  bat- 
tles of  the  lusts  in  the  unregenerate  natural  man  against 
the  newly  revealed  truths  of  the  internal  man. 

The  second  and  third  tablets  tell  of  the  preparations 
made  by  Marduk  (Merodach),  the  son  of  Ea,  the  supreme 
God,  for  the  coming  battle  against  Tiamat,  and  the  fourth 
describes  the  battle  itself:  wildly  shrieking  "the  ancient 
dragon"  advanced  with  wide-open  mouth,  but 

The  Lord  drove  in  the  evil  wind,  before  she  could  shut  her 
lips. 


162  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  terrible  wind  filled  her  belly. 

Her  courage  left  her,  and  her  mouth  she  opened  wide. 

He  seized  the  spear,  and  burst  her  belly ; 

He  severed  her  inward  parts ;  he  pierced  her  heart, 

He  overpowered  her,  and  cut  off  her  life; 

He  threw  down  her  body,  and  stood  upon  it." 

Her  monstrous  offspring  then  took  to  flight,  whereupon 
Marduk  smashed  her  skull  with  his  club,  and  "split  her  up 
like  a  flat  flsh  into  two  parts.  He  took  one  half  and  estab- 
lished a  covering  for  heaven," — which  reminds  us  of  "the 
division  of  the  waters"  of  the  abyss. 

The  story  continues  in  the  fifth  tablet: 
"He  made  the  stations  for  the  [two]  great  gods,  [the  sun 
and  the  moon]  ; 

The  stars,  their  images,  the  constellations  he  fixed. 

He  ordained  the  year,  and  into  sections  he  divided  it; 

The  twelve  months  he  fixed  by  three  stars ; 

And  after  the  days  of  the  year  he  fixed  by.  .  .  . 

He  established  the  station  of  Nibir,   [the  sun]   to  deter- 
mine their  bounds, 

In  order  that  none  might  err  or  go  astray. 


Nannar  [the  moon]  he  caused  to  shine  forth; 
The  night  he  entrusted  to  him. 

He  appointed  him  a  Luminary  for  the  night,  to  deter- 
mine the  days. ' ' 

The  rest  of  the  tablet  is  fragmentary,  but  it  is  supposed 
to  refer  to  the  creation  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  As  a 
whole,  this  portion  closely  corresponds  to  the  account  in 
Genesis:  "And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light  in  the  firma- 
ment of  Heaven  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night;  and  let 
them  be  for  signs  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days  and  years. 
And  God  made  two  great  lights;  the  greater  light  to  rule 
the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to  rule  the  night;  and  the 
stars  also. ' '  All  of  which,  in  the  Assyrian  as  well  as  in  the 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  163 

Hebrew  account,  describes  the  birth  of  charity  and  faith  in 
the  regenerating  man. 

Of  the  sixth  tablet  only  the  beginning  has  been  preserved, 
but  it  clearly  refers  to  the  creation  of  man  on  the  sixth  day : 

"When  Marduk  heard  the  words  of  the  gods. 
His  heart  prompted  him,  and  he  devised  [a  plan] 
He  opened  his  mouth  and  unto  Ea  he  spoke ; 
'My  blood  will  I  take,  and  bone  will  I  [fashion], 
I  will  make  man,  that  man  may.  .  .  . 
I  will  create  man  who  shall  inhabit   [the  earth]. 
That  the  service  of  the  gods  may  be  established,  and  that 
[their]  shrines  [may  be  built].'  " 

A  fragment  of  the  seventh  tablet  reads  as  follows : 

''At  that  time  the  gods  in  their  assembly  created; 
They  made  perfect  the  mighty  monsters. 
They  caused  the  living  creatures   [of  the  field]   to  come 

forth; 
The  cattle  of  the  field,  the  [wild]  beasts  of  the  field,  and 

the  creeping  things  of  the  field. 
They  fixed  the  habitations  for  the  living  creatures  of  the 

field: 
They  distributed  in  their  dwelling-places  the  cattle  and 

the  creeping  things  of  the  city. 
They  made  strong  the  multitude  of  the  creeping  things ; 

all  the  offspring  of  the  earth." 

The  rest  of  the  tablet  refers  to  the  glorification  of  Marduk 
by  the  other  gods  on  account  of  his  wonderful  deeds  as  the 
creator  of  heaven  and  earth.  It  probably  contained  also 
a  further  account  of  the  creation  of  man,  which,  in  another 
fragment,  (Delitsch,  2,  A.  80;  F.  15-17)  is  thus  referred  to: 

' '  In  order  to  save  them,  He  created  mankind. 
The  Merciful  One,  with  whom  is  the  calling  into  life. 
May  He  establish,  and  may  never  His  word  be  forgotten 
In  the  mouth  of  the  black-headed  race  whom  His  hands 
created. ' ' 


164  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

The  "black-headed  race"  was  the  national  designation  of 
the  Siimero-Akkadians,  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  Eu- 
phrates valley.  This  tablet  is,  unfortunately,  too  mutilated 
to  be  deciphered  as  a  whole,  but  there  is  not  the  least  doubt 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  part  which  is  preserved.  "Ana 
padishunu  ihnu  avilutu,"  ''in  order  to  save  them  [or,  to 
set  free,  or,  redeem  them],  He  created  mankind."  The 
learned  Dr.  Schrader,  admits  that  "it  is  not  clear  how  the 
sentence  'in  order  to  save  them'  is  to  be  understood  in  con- 
nection Tvdth  the  rest,"  ("Wie  das,  'um  sie  zu  losen,  in 
dem  Zusammenhange  zu  verstehen  sei,  is  nicht  klar  ersicht- 
lich"),  but  to  a  Newchurchman  this  sentence  presents  so 
noble  a  conception  of  the  Lord 's  end  in  the  creation  of  man- 
kind, that  he  is  startled  to  find  it  in  a  "heathen"  legend. 
"In  order  to  save  tliem,  Be  created  mankind,''  that  is,  He 
created  them  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  bless  them  with 
eternal  salvation.  Who  would  have  thought  to  find,  amidst 
the  dust-heaps  of  ancient  Nineveh,  this  precious  pearl  of 
spiritual  truth,  this  glorious  ray  of  light  from  the  vanished 
sun  of  the  Ancient  Word ! 

The  Chaldean  Legend. 

The  following  account  dates  from  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  when  a  Chaldean  priest,  named  Berosus,  trans- 
lated into  Greek  the  history  and  sacred  traditions  of  his 
native  country.  Babylonia.  His  work  as  a  whole  has  been 
lost,  but  fragments  were  copied  by  two  subsequent  writers, 
Polyhistor  and  ApoUodorus,  and  have  been  collected  by 
Cory  in  his  Ancient  Fragments. 

"There  was  a  time  when  nothing  existed  but  darkness, 
and  an  abj^ss  of  waters  wherein  most  hideous  beings  resided. 

' '  The  person  who  presided  over  them  was  a  woman  named 
Omorka,  which,  in  the  Chaldean  language,  is  Tiamat,  in 
Greek,  Thalassa,  the  sea. 

"All  things  being  in  this  [chaotic]  condition,  the  god 
Belus  came  and  cut  the  woman  asunder. 

"And  of  one  half  of  her  he  formed  the  earth,  and  of  the 
other  half  the  heavens,  and  at  the  same  time  he  destroyed 
the  animals  within  her. 


LEGENDS  OF  CEEATION.  165 

''The  whole  universe  consisting  of  moisture,  and  ani- 
mals being  continually  generated  therein,  Belus  took  off 
his  own  head;  upon  which  the  other  gods  mixed  the  blood, 
as  it  gushed  out,  with  the  earth;  and  from  thence  were 
formed  men. 

' '  On  this  account  it  is  that  they  are  rational,  and  partake 
of  Divine  knowledge. 

''This  Belus,  by  whom  is  signified  Jupiter,  divided  the 
darkness,  and  separated  the  heavens  from  the  earth,  and 
reduced  the  universe  to  order. 

"Belus  also  formed  the  stars,  and  the  sun,  and  the  five 
planets. ' ' 

The  Chaldean  legend,  as  will  be  seen,  closely  resembles 
the  Assyrian  account.  The  abyss-woman,  Omorka,  is  the 
female  dragon,  Mummu  Tiamat,  the  Hebrew  teJiom,  the 
unregenerate  nature  of  the  sensual  man;  and  the  hideous 
animals  within  her  are  the  lusts  and  persuasions  of  the  old 
proprium.  The  Chaldean  account  is  unique  in  describing 
the  creation  of  man  as  resulting  from  the  creator  "taking 
off  his  own  head,"  the  signification  of  which  is  obscure. 
But  there  is  no  obscurity  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  "blood" 
of  the  god,  the  Divine  Truth,  whence  men  "are  rational 
and  partake  of  Divine  Knowledge."  Compare  the  words 
in  Genesis  2 :  6,  7 :  "  And  there  went  up  a  mist  from  the 
earth  and  watered  all  the  faces  of  the  ground.  And  Je- 
hovah God  formed  man  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives;  and  man  became  a 
living  soul. 

The  Egyptian  Cosmogony. 

For  many  years  the  Egyptologists  were  unable  to  find 
among  the  papyri  any  connected  account  of  the  creation 
of  the  world,  but  in  the  year  1904,  Dr.  E.  A.  Wallis  Budge 
in  the  first  volume  of  his  great  work  The  Gods  of  the 
Egyptians,  published  two  versions  of  a  Creation  story. 
These  are,  however,  so  involved,  obscure,  and  in  places 
obscene,  that  we  cannot  introduce  them  here  as  a  whole. 
Both  are  entitled  "The  Book  of  knowing  the  evolutions  of 


166  TEB  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Ra  and  the  overthrowing  of  Apep. "  Ea  is  the  Sun  of  the 
spiritual  world,  the  Divine  creative  Word,  and  Apep  is  the 
great  w^orld-serpent.  Ra  tells  the  story  of  how  all  things 
came  forth  from  his  mouth.  "Heaven  did  not  exist,  nor 
the  earth,  nor  had  the  things  of  the  earth  and  the  creeping 
things  been  created.  I  raised  them  up  from  Nu,  the 
primeval  abyss  of  water,  from  a  state  of  inactivity."  The 
rest  of  the  story  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  scriptural  ac- 
count or  to  any  other  story  that  we  have  seen.  "Men 
and  women  came  into  being  from  the  tears  which  flowed 
forth  from  my  eye."  The  future  will  no  doubt  bring 
forth  papyri  more  similar  to  that  document  from  which 
Moses  copied  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  for  he  must 
have  done  this  work  either  in  Egypt  or  during  his  exile 
in  the  land  of  Midian.  As  the  adopted  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter  it  is  likely  that  he  was  brought  up  in  the  learn- 
ing of  the  Egyptians. 

Among  the  papjTi  there  are  many  scattered  references 
to  the  liistory  of  creation,  from  which  Dr.  Brugsch  has 
compiled  the  following  summary  in  his  Religion  und 
Mythologie  der  Alten  ^gypter,  (Vol.  I.,  p.  101)  : 

"In  the  beginning  there  was  neither  Heaven  nor  earth. 
Encompassed  with  thick  darkness,  a  boundless  ocean  filled 
the  all,  concealing  in  its  bosom  the  germ  of  the  future 
world. 

"The  Divine  Spirit,  feeling  the  impulse  to  creative  ac- 
tivity, by  His  word  called  the  world  into  life,  according 
to  the  prototype  which  from  eternity  had  existed  within 
His  OT^-n  mind.  Corresponding  to  this  prototype,  or  'the 
Truth, '  the  world  was  made  as  to  its  body,  forms,  and  color. 

"The  first  beginning  of  creation  was  the  production  of 
an  egg  from  the  primeval  ocean,  and  out  of  it  broke  forth 
the  'Light  of  Day,'  (i?a),  and  this  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  life  upon  the  earth. 

"The  creative  word  itself  is  called  by  the  name  of  Ftali, 
the  'opener,'  the  'God  of  Truth.'  " 

In  the  Book  of  the  Dead  Ptah  is  said  to  have  created  the 
primeval  ocean  by  means  of  his  thoughts. 

"The  Nile  poured  forth  its  waters  at  the  command  of 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION,  167 

Ptah.  The  light,  following  upon  it,  beautified  the  region 
of  Seb.  Yet  this  region  was  still  a  waste.  No  trace  of 
thinking  beings  could  be  found. 

"Afterwards  'the  Most  Holy,'  brought  forth  the  green 
things  of  the  earth,  and  the  trees  which  every  year  produce 
all  kinds  of  fruits  and  refreshing  drinks." 

In  another  papyrus  we  find  the  following  allusions  to  the 
creation  of  man,  and  the  institution  of  the  Sabbath: 

"A  song  of  praise  to  the  Builder,  who  made  the  world 
for  me,  for  a  home  of  man,  the  image  of  the  Creator. 

"Mine  is  the  government,  mine  who  am  the  Prince,  who 
hath  commanded  the  stated  festivals  of  the  Most  Holy; 
mine,  who  am  he  that  ordered  the  year  of  the  sun,  who 
commanded  the  celebration  of  the  seventh  day  of  the  week, 
the  celebration  of  the  new  moon  at  On."     (Fisher,  Heiden- 

THUM  UND  OfFENBARUNG,  p.  321.) 

This  account  is  almost  Johannine  in  its  doctrine  of  the 
Logos,  the  creative  Word,  and  contains  many  features  re- 
sembling the  Hebrew  narrative. 

The  Aryan  Legend. 

In  the  Rig  Veda,  the  most  ancient  sacred  code  belong- 
ing to  that  original  stock  whence  sprang  all  the  Indo-Euro- 
pean races,  the  creation  of  the  world  is  thus  described  : 

' '  There  was  at  that  time  neither  the  non-existing,  nor  the 
existing.  Space  was  not,  nor  Heaven  by  the  side  of  space. 
What  was  it  that  so  powerfully  concealed  all?  Where  was 
the  water,  the  unfathomable,  the  deep? 

"Death  was  not  then,  nor  immortality.  There  was  no 
sign  of  day  or  of  night.  Moved  by  no  wind,  there  was 
breathing  alone,  activity,  in  the  Divine  Essence.  Besides 
this  there  was  absolutely  nothing. 

"Darkness  was.  All  was  in  the  beginning  an  indistin- 
guishable ocean,  hidden  by  the  Darkness.  The  great  thing 
which  was  closed  up  by  the  Nothing,  this  was  bom  from 
the  might  of  the  Tapa. 

"Kama  came  first  into  existence.  He  was  the  first-bom 
seed  of  the  Spirit. 


168  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

"Who  knowetli  it,  in  truth?  Who  is  able  to  announce 
it  here,  whence  was  this  creation?  Hither  the  gods  have 
come  through  this  sending;  but  who  knoweth  whence  He 
Himself  hath  come?"     (Quoted  by  Fisher,  p.  70.) 

By  the  "Kama,"  in  the  Sanscrit,  is  meant  the  Logos,  the 
Word,  whence  is  all  the  Light  of  Truth.  With  the  words 
"moved  by  no  wind,  there  was  breathing  alone,  activity 
in  the  Divine  Essence,"  compare  the  sacred  text:  "And 
the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  faces  of  the  waters," 
(Gen.  1:2),  by  which  is  signified  the  Divine  Mercy,  by 
gentle  and  continual  activity  calling  into  life  the  remains 
or  seeds  of  good  and  truth  which  during  infancy  were  con- 
cealed and  treasured  up  within  every  man.     (A.  C.  19.) 

In  the  tenth  book  of  the  Rig  Veda  we  find  also  the  tradi- 
tion that  all  things  were  made  out  of  the  mangled  limbs 
of  Purusha,  a  gigantic  supernatural  man,  who  was  sacri- 
ficed by  the  gods,  as  Ymir  was  slain  by  Odhin  and  his 
brothers. 

The  following  bit  of  ancient  Hindu  philosophy  is  of 
special  interest. 

"Prajapati,  (the  universal  Infinite),  formed  the  animals 
from  his  breath,  ma7i  from  his  soul.  The  soul  is  the  first 
of  the  breaths,  since  he  formed  man  from  his  soul.  There- 
fore they  say  that  'man  is  the  first  of  the  animals  and  the 
strongest.  The  soul  is  all  the  breaths,  for  all  the  breaths 
depend  upon  the  soul.  Since  he  formed  man  from  his  soul, 
therefore  they  say  "man  is  all  the  animals,  for  all  these 
are  man's.'  "     (Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  Vol.  I,  p.  24.) 

The  Greek  Legend. 

From  the  Eevelation  given  to  the  New  Church  it  is  known 
that  "the  science  of  correspondences  was  cultivated  in 
many  kingdoms  of  Asia,  and  especially  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  Egypt,  Assyria,  Chaldea,  Syria,  Arabia,  and  in 
Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Nineveh ;  also,  that  it  was  carried  thence 
from  the  maritime  districts  into  Greece;  but  there  it  was 
turned  into  fables,  as  is  evident  from  the  writings  of  the 
earliest  authors  there."     (S.  S.  21.) 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  169 

Among  these  ' '  earliest  authors ' '  were  Homer  and  Hesiod, 
who,  according  to  various  estimates,  lived  anywhere  be- 
tween 1000  and  700  B.  C.  Of  Homer,  the  author  of  the 
Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  we  know  that  he  composed  his  im- 
mortal epics  in  a  correspondential  or  representative  style, 
as  is  shown  in  the  Arcana  Ccelestia,  2762,  where  the  corre- 
spondence of  the  Trojan  horse  is  given.  But  it  is  espe- 
cially Hesiod,  who,  in  his  Theogony,  relates  the  origin  of 
gods  and  men,  and  who  describes  the  creation  of  the  world 
as  follows: 

*' First  Chaos  was;    next  ample-bosomed  earth, 
The  seat  eternal  and  immovable 
Of  deathless  gods,  who  still  th'  Olympian  heights 
Snow-topt  inhabit.     Third,  in  hollow  depth 
Of  the  vast  ground,  expanded  wide  above 
The  gloomy  Tartarus.    Love  then  arose, 
Most  beauteous  of  immortals — 
From  Chaos,  Erebus  and  sable  Nyx  [were  born]. 
From  Nyx  arose  the  Ether  and  the  Day, 
Whom  she,  with  dark  embrace  of  Erebus, 
Commingling  bore. 

Her  first-bom  Earth  produced, 
Of  like  immensity,  the  starry  Heaven; 
That  He  might  sheltering  compass  her  around 
On  every  side,  and  be  for  evermore 
To  the  blest  gods  a  mansion  unremoved." 

(From  C.  A.  Elton's  translation.) 

Hesiod  quickly  passes  over  the  story  of  creation,  and 
proceeds  immediately"  to  the  description  of  the  birth  of  the 
Titanic  race,  of  whom  Chronos,  or  Saturn,  was  the  young- 
est. But  in  the  few  lines  quoted  above  we  may  still  trace 
the  leading  features  of  the  Biblical  account  of  creation,  or 
of  the  establishment  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church.  ' '  Chaos ' ' 
is  the  mixed  state  of  man  before  regeneration,  before  he 
has  begun  to  discriminate  between  good  and  evil.  ' '  Gloomy 
Tartarus"  is  the  ''abyss"  of  the  Bible,  the  "Tiamat"  of 
the  Assyrian  legend,  the  "Omorka"  of  Berosus,  the  lusts 


170  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

of  the  unregenerate  man.  "Love,"  or  "Eros,"  would 
seem  to  correspond  to  "the  Spirit  of  God  moving  upon 
the  waters."  "Erebus,"  (which  signifies  evening),  and 
"sable  Night,"  answer  to  the  "thick  darkness  upon  the 
faces  of  the  abyss." 

Then  follow  "Ether  and  the  Day,"  which  clearly  stand 
for  the  "Light"  which  was  the  "beginning  of  the  working 
of  God,"  and  finally  there  comes  forth  "Heaven,"  or  the 
god  Uranos,  who  signifies  the  Celestial  Church  of  the  Golden 
Age.  But  these  things  stand  forth  more  clearly  in  the 
Metamorphoses  of  Ovid. 

The  Latin  Legend. 

The  statement  in  the  Doctrine  concerning  the  Sacred 
Scripture,  n.  21,  as  to  the  correspondential  style  of  the 
Greek  fables,  is  thus  stated  and  amplified  in  the  little  work 
On  the  Word,  {De  Verho),  n.  7:  "Similar  were  the  rest 
of  the  things  which  are  termed  fables,  which  were  com- 
posed by  the  most  ancient  writers  in  Greece,  and  which 
were  collected  together  and  described  by  Ovid  in  his  Meta- 
morphoses. ' ' 

Of  all  the  ancient  legends  of  creation  the  one  presented 
by  Ovid  in  his  first  two  Fables  is  certainly  the  most  sys- 
tematic. Though  it  is  based  on  the  brief  account  given 
by  Hesiod,  it  is  clear  that  the  author  consulted  other  docu- 
ments, now  unknown,  in  the  compilation  of  his  noble  col- 
lection. The  first  Fable  reads  as  follows,  in  the  translation 
of  Henry  T.  Eiley: 

"At  first  the  sea,  the  earth,  and  heaven  which  covers  all 
things,  were  the  only  face  of  nature  throughout  the  whole 
universe,  which  men  have  named  Chaos;  a  rude  and  un- 
digested mass,  and  nothing  more  than  an  inert  weight,  and 
the  discordant  atoms  of  things  not  harmonizing,  heaped 
together  in  the  same  spot. 

"No  Sun  as  yet  gave  light  to  the  world;  nor  did  the 
Moon  by  increasing,  recover  her  horns  anew.  The  earth 
did  not  as  yet  hang  in  the  surrounding  air,  balanced  by  its 
own  weight,  nor  had  Amphitrite,  [the  goddess  of  the  ocean], 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  171 

stretched  out  her  arms  along  the  lengthened  margin  of  the 
coasts. 

"Wherever,  too,  was  the  land,  there  also  was  the  sea 
and  the  air;  and  thus  was  the  earth  without  firmness,  the 
sea  unnavigable,  the  air  void  of  light;  in  no  one  of  them 
did  its  present  form  exist. 

"And  one  was  ever  obstructing  the  other;  because  in 
the  same  body  the  cold  was  striving  with  the  hot,  the  moist 
with  the  dry,  the  soft  with  the  hard,  things  having  weight 
with  those  devoid  of  weight." 

Thus  far  the  Fable  has  described  the  pruneval  condi- 
tion of  the  earth,  while  it  was  empty,  void  and  dark.  Now 
follow  the  separation  of  the  waters  and  the  firmament,  and 
the  coming  forth  of  Light. 

' '  To  this  discord  God  and  bounteous  Nature  put  an  end ; 
for  he  separated  the  earth  from  the  heavens,  and  the  waters 
from  the  earth,  and  distinguished  the  clear  heavens,  [the 
ether],  from  the  gross  atmosphere. 

"And  after  he  had  unravelled  these  elements,  and  re- 
leased them  from  that  confused  heap,  he  combined  them, 
thus  disjoined,  in  harmonious  unison,  each  in  its  proper 
place. 

"The  element  of  the  vaulted  heaven,  fiery  and  without 
weight,  shone  forth,  and  selected  a  place  for  itself  in  the 
highest  region ;  next  after  it,  both  in  lightness  and  in  place, 
was  the  air;  the  Earth  was  more  weighty  than  these,  and 
drew  with  it  the  more  ponderous  atoms,  and  was  pressed 
together  by  its  own  gravity. 

"The  encircling  waters  sank  to  the  lowermost  place,  and 
surrounded  the  solid  globe." 

One  cannot  avoid  a  feeling  of  astonishment  at  the  knowl- 
edge of  natural  law  possessed  by  Ovid,  the  knowledge  of 
the  law  of  gravitation,  for  instance,  of  the  different  atmos- 
pheres, and  of  the  rotundity  of  the  earth, — facts  "dis- 
covered" a  thousand  and  more  years  later  by  Galileo,  Cor- 
pemicus,  and  Newton!  Whence  did  Ovid  possess  this 
knowledge  ?  Does  it  not  point  to  a  very  advanced  state  of 
science  in  ancient  times,  a  science  derived  not  so  much 
from  external  observation,  as  from  a  knowledge  of  corre- 


172  TRE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

spondenees  and  from  deductive  reasoning,  a  priori,  it  is 
true,  but  still  arriving  at  correct  conclusions? 

In  the  second  Fable  the  author  speaks  with  amazing 
scientific  accuracy  of  the  conformation  of  the  globe  and 
of  the  zones,  and  refers  briefly  to  the  creation  of  the  planets, 
the  heavenly  lights,  and  the  animals,  very  much  in  the 
order  presented  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis. 

' '  When  thus  He,  whoever  of  the  gods  He  was,  had  divided 
the  mass  so  separated,  and  reduced  it,  so  divided,  into  dis- 
tinct members;  in  the  first  place,  that  it  might  not  be  un- 
equal on  any  side.  He  gathered  it  up  into  the  form  of  a 
vast  globe;  then  He  commanded  the  sea  to  be  poured 
around  it,  and  to  grow  boisterous  with  the  raging  winds, 
and  to  surround  the  shores  of  the  earth,  encompassed  by 
it.  .  .  . 

"He  commanded  the  plains,  also,  to  be  extended,  the 
valleys  to  sink  do\^Ti,  the  woods  to  be  clothed  with  green 
leaves,  the  craggy  mountains  to  arise ;  and,  as  on  the  right- 
hand  side,  two  Zones  intersect  the  heavens,  and  as  many  on 
the  left,  and  as  there  is  a  fifth  hotter  than  these,  so  did 
the  care  of  the  Deity  distinguish  this  enclosed  mass  of  the 
Earth  by  the  same  number,  and  as  manj^  climates  are 
marked  out  upon  the  Earth. 

''Of  these,  that  which  is  the  middle  one,  is  not  habitable 
on  account  of  the  heat;  deep  snow  covers  two  of  them. 
Between  either  these  He  placed  as  many  more,  and  gave 
them  a  temperate  climate,  heat  being  mingled  with  cold. 

.  .  .  Scarcely  had  He  separated  all  these  by  fixed  limits, 
when  the  stars,  which  had  long  lain  hid,  concealed  beneath 
the  mass  of  Chaos,  began  to  glow  through  the  range  of 
the  heavens. 

"And  that  no  region  might  be  destitute  of  its  own 
peculiar  animated  beings,  the  stars  and  the  forms  of  the 
Gods,  [the  Sun  and  the  Moon,  Apollo  and  Diana],  possess 
the  tract  of  heaven ;  the  waters  fell  to  be  inhabited  by  the 
smooth  fishes ;  the  Earth  received  the  wild  beasts,  and  the 
yielding  air  the  birds." 

The  cosmogonic  Fable  concludes  with  a  sublime  account 
of  the  creation  of  man,  in  which  are  clearly  visible  the  in- 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  173 

fluences  of  the  Chaldean  and  Egyptian  traditions,  if  not, 
indeed,  also  some  more  direct  acquaintance  with  the  Word 
of  the  Ancient  Church. 

"But  an  animated  being,  more  holy  than  these,  more 
fitted  to  receive  higher  faculties,  and  which  could  rule  over 
the  rest,  was  still  wanting. 

' '  Then  Man  was  formed.  Whether  it  was  that  the  Arti- 
ficer of  all  things,  the  original  of  the  world  in  its  improved 
state,  framed  him  from  Divine  elements;  or  whether  the 
Earth,  being  newly  made,  and  but  lately  divided  from  the 
lofty  ether,  still  retained  some  atoms  of  its  kindred  heaven, 
which,  tempered  with  the  waters  of  the  stream,  the  son  of 
lapetus,  [Prometheus],  fashioned  after  the  image  of  the 
gods,  who  rule  over  all  things. 

"And,  whereas  other  animals  bend  their  looks  down- 
wards upon  the  earth,  to  man  He  gave  a  countenance  to 
look  on  high  and  to  behold  the  heavens,  and  to  raise  his 
face  erect  to  the  stars. 

' '  Thus,  that  which  had  been  lately  rude  earth,  and  with- 
out any  regular  shape,  being  changed,  assumed  the  form 
of  Man,  till  then  unknown. ' ' 

Then,  in  the  next  Fable,  follows  the  famous  story  of 
the  Four  Ages,  as,  in  the  Word,  the  story  of  creation  is 
followed  by  the  history  of  the  Ancient  Churches, — Adam, 
Noah,  and  Israel, — and  these  by  the  Christian  Church. 

The  Scandinavian  Saga. 

Of  all  the  ancient  legends  of  the  Creation,  there  is  none 
more  grand  and  beautiful  than  the  one  contained  in  the 
Elder  Edda,  the  Icelandic  epic,  in  which  are  preserved 
the  religious  traditions  of  the  common  ancestors  of  the 
Scandinavian  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  races. 

The  Vala,  or  inspired  prophetess  who  is  represented  as 
singing  her  song  at  the  command  of  Odhin,  thus  be- 
gins her  mysterious  lay,  the  "Voluspa, "  of  which  we 
here  present  some  extracts  in  a  literal  translation  of  our 
0"WTi: 


174  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

"Hearken  now,  all  ye 
Heaven-born  races, 
Children  of  Heimdal, 
Everywhere. 
Valfather's  wonderful 
Works  I  will  tell  you, 
Tales  of  most  ancient 
Times  that  I  know." 

Many  ages  before  the  earth  had  been  made,  two  worlds 
existed:  Niflheim,  the  world  of  darkness,  cold,  and  nebu- 
lous clouds,  far  to  the  north;  and  Muspelheim,  the  bright 
world  of  fire  and  flame  far  to  the  south.  Between  these  two 
there  was  nought  but  a  yawning  abyss,  called  Ginungagap. 
The  two  worlds  clearly  correspond  to  the  "heaven  and 
earth"  of  Genesis,  Muspelheim  being  the  internal  man,  in 
which  the  Lord  with  His  infinite  love  dwells  with  man,  and 
Niflheim,  the  external  man,  the  selfhood,  the  abode  of  dark- 
ness and  spiritual  death.  Ginungagap  is  the  "abyss,"  the 
"chaos,"  which  is  common  to  all  the  legends. 

The  Edda  continues: 

"T'was  the  morning  of  ages. 
When  Ymir  builded. 
Sand  was  not  seen,  nor 
Billowing  sea. 
The  earth  had  not  risen, 
Nor  heaven  above  it; 
Ginungagap  was. 
But  grass  grew  not." 

"Ymir,"  whose  name  strangely  resembles  that  of 
"Omorka,"  was  a  "frost-giant,"  an  evil  being  who  came 
into  existence  when,  in  the  midst  of  Ginungagap,  the  sparks 
of  fire  from  Muspelheim  met  the  venomous  vapor  exhaling 
from  Niflheim.  In  Ymir  we  may  recognize  the  sensual 
man,  the  first  state  and  degree  of  our  conscious  life,  the 
plane  which  has  life  only  from  the  Lord  in  the  internal 
man,   but  individual   existence   and  form  only  from  our 


LEGENDS  OF  CBEATION.  175 

hereditary  proprium.    But  the  life  of  regeneration  is  about 
to  begin: 

''Then  the  mighty  ones 

Moved  to  the  judgment, 

The  gods  all-holy 

Their  council  held. 

To  night  and  sunset 

Names  they  rendered; 

Morning  from  mid-day 

They  set  apart, — 

Twilight  and  evening 

To  tell  the  years." 

This  calls  to  mind  the  first  day  of  creation,  when  "God 
called  the  light,  day,  and  the  darkness  He  called  night. 
And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day." 

"The  sons  of  Bure 
The  lands  now  builded; 
From  out  of  the  ocean 
Fair  Midgard  formed. 
The  Sun  shone  southward 
On  stones  and  earth-walls; 
Then  in  the  ground 
Grew  herbage  green." 

"Midgard"  is  the  "dry  land,"  the  inhabitable  earth, 
which  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  waters.  The  "sons  of 
Bure"  were  the  three  creative  divinities,  Odhin,  Vile  and 
Ve,  the  last  two  of  whom  are  also  called  Hoener  and  Lodur. 
They  may  be  compared  to  the  "Elohim"  of  the  Scriptures, 
a  "plural  of  majesty." 

These  three  slew  the  giant  Ymir,  as  Bel  slew  Omorka, 
or  as  IMerodach  slew  Tiamat,  and  the  creation  of  all  things 
on  earth  was  then  accomplished  in  the  following  manner: 

"Of  Ymir's  hulk 
The  earth  was  shapened. 
His  blood  made  billows. 


176  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

His  bones  made  bergs. 
The  hair  formed  bushes 
And  heaven  high 
From  his  skull  was  made. 
Next,  from  his  eyebrows 
The  mighty  powers 
Midgard  made 
For  the  sons  of  men. 
But  of  his  brains 
Were  made  the  baleful 
And  gloomy  clouds 
Of  the  lowering  sky." 

There  is  preserved  here  a  precious  relic  of  the  ancient 
"anthropomorphic"  idea  of  the  Grand  Man,  the  idea  that 
the  whole  universe,  the  macrocosm,  is  stamped  with  the 
human  form.  The  details  may  be  difficult  of  interpreta- 
tion, but  the  last  lines,  describing  the  creation  of  the  clouds, 
suggest  the  thought  that  all  doiihts  arise  from  the  sensual 
understanding  of  the  proprium,  the  brains  of  Ymir. 

We  come  finally  to  the  creation  of  man : 

"And,  last,  three  Asar, 
Blithesome  and  mighty, 
From  the  gods  went  forward 
To  Midgard 's  house. 
There  on  the  ground 
They  found  the  helpless 
Ask  and  Embla 
Without  a  use. 
No  spirit  had  they. 
No  understanding. 
No  blood,  or  motion. 
Or  blooming  hue. 
Odhin  gave  spirit, 
Hoener  gave  reason, 
Lodur  gave  blood 
And  blooming  hue." 


LEGENDS  OF  CREATION.  I77 

''Ask"  and  "Embla"  were  two  trees,  the  Ash  and  the 
Ehn,  from  which  were  created  the  first  man  and  the  first 
woman,  Adam  and  Eve.  The  reader  is  reminded,  here,  of 
Swedenborg's  description,  in  the  Worship  and  Love  of 
God,  of  the  creation  of  the  first  pair,  on  trees  in  the  para- 
dise. It  is  possible  that  this  idea  was  suggested  to  him  by 
the  legends  of  his  northern  ancestors.  Whether  we  look 
upon  this  as  a  scientific  fact  or  as  an  allegory,  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  the  legend  unfolds  itself  when  we  know  that 
a  tree  signifies  perception;  that  the  Lord  created  the  first 
men  with  the  faculty  of  natural  perception ;  and  that  these 
men  became  celestial  as  their  perception  became  that  celes- 
tial perception  which  constitutes  the  highest  of  all  human 
faculties. 

The  Chinese  Doctrine  of  Creation. 

The  Chinese  cosmogony  is  presented  by  Confucius  in  the 
form  of  questions  and  answers.  We  give  the  following 
excerpt  as  translated  by  Canon  M'Clatchie: 

"At  the  beginning  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  before  Chaos 
w^as  divided,  I  think  there  were  only  two  things.  Fire  and 
water,  and  the  sediment  of  the  water  formed  the  Earth. 
When  we  ascend  a  height  and  look  down,  the  host  of 
hills  resemble  the  waves  of  the  sea  in  appearance;  the 
water  just  flowed  like  this.  I  know  not  at  what  period  it 
coagulated.  At  first  it  was  very  soft,  but  afterwards  it 
coagulated  and  became  hard. 

"Someone  asked  whether  it  resembled  sand  thrown  up 
by  the  tide  ?  He  replied,  Just  so :  the  coarsest  sediment  of 
the  water  became  the  earth,  and  the  most  pure  portion  of 
the  Fire  became  Wind,  Thunder,  Lightning,  Sun,  and 
Stars. 

"He  was  asked:  From  the  commencement  of  Heaven 
and  Earth  to  the  present  time  is  not  ten  thousand  years ; 
I  know  not  how  it  was  before  that  time? 

"He  replied.  Before  that  time  there  was  another  clear 
opening,    {i.    e.,   another   Heaven   and   Earth*),   like   the 


*  Or,  perhaps,  another  Divine  Eevelation  and  Dispensation. 
12 


178  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

present  one.  Being  further  asked  whether  Heaven  and 
Earth  can  altogether  perish,  he  replied,  They  cannot,  but 
when  mankind  totally  degenerate,  then  the  whole  shall  re- 
turn to  chaos,  and  men  and  things  shall  cease  to  exist ;  and 
then  the  World  shall  hegin  anew.     (Italics  our  owti.) 

''Someone  asked  how  the  first  man  was  generated?  And 
he  replied,  By  the  transmutation  of  the  atmosphere:  the 
subtle  portions  of  the  Light  and  Darkness  and  the  Fire 
Elements  united  and  produced  his  form. 

"Before  Chaos  was  divided,  the  Light-Dark  air  was 
mixed  up  and  dark,  and  when  it  was  divided  the  centre 
formed  an  enormous  and  most  brilliant  opening,  and  the 
two  E  were  established.  Shaon  Kang-tsee  considers  129,600 
years  to  be  a  Yuen,  (Kalpa)  ;  then,  before  this  period  of 
129,000  years,  there  was  another  opening  and  spreading 
out  of  the  world ;  and  before  that  again,  there  was  another 
like  the  present ;  so  that  Motion  and  Rest,  Light  and  Dark- 
ness, have  no  beginning. 

"Being  asked  whether  the  multitude  of  things  existed 
before  Heaven  and  Earth  were  divided,  he  replied:  There 
was  merely  the  idea  of  each  thing.  Heaven  and  Earth 
generate  all  things,  and  throughout  all  time,  ancient  and 
modem,  cannot  be  separated  from  all  things."  (His- 
torians' History  of  the  World,  Yol.  I,  pp.  34,  35.) 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
LEGENDS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

As  with  each  of  the  nations  descended  from  the  Ancient 
Church  there  was  a  legend  of  the  Creation  of  the  world 
and  of  man,  so  also  there  were  with  them  traditions  of  a 
Golden  Age,  of  a  primeval  state  of  perfect  innocence,  wis- 
dom and  blessedness,  in  which,  as  in  a  garden  of  delights, 
(Eden  signifies  "delight"),  the  first  ancestors  of  the  human 
race  dwelt  in  tranquility  and  peace,  nurtured  by  the  Tree 
of  Life. 

That  these  traditions  have  their  common  origin  in  the 
first  chapters  of  the  Bible,  is  admitted  by  all  sane  savants. 
''The  Bible  narrative,"  says  Lenormant,  "is  not  one  iso- 
lated tale,  unconnected  with  the  traditions  of  other  nations, 
and  proceeding  only  from  the  pen  of  Moses.  It  is  on  the 
contrary  the  most  complete  and  authentic  form  of  a  grand 
primitive  tradition,  which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  earliest 
ages  of  humanity,  and  has  originally  been  common  to  all 
races  and  all  peoples,  and  been  carried  all  over  the  world, 
by  the  dispersion  of  these  races  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
In  his  narration  of  this  history  the  Hebrew  legislator  has 
faithfully  reproduced  the  ancient  memories  preserved  from 
age  to  age  among  the  Patriarchs,  and,  by  a  special  dispen- 
sation of  Providence,  favored  by  the  isolated  and  nomadic 
life  led  by  the  family  of  Abraham,  less  corrupted  among 
them  than  among  the  surrounding  nations.  He  has,  as- 
sisted by  the  light  of  inspiration,  restored  their  true  char- 
acter to  facts  elsewhere  frequently  obscured  by  polytheism 
and  idolatry.  .  .  .  We  shall  find  in  one  place  or  another 
all  its  essential  features,  even  those  parts  of  the  tradition 
that  are  difficult  to  understand  literally,  and  where  we  may 
be  allowed  to  suppose  allegorical  and  figurative  expres- 
sions."    (Ancient  History  of  the  East,  Vol.  I,  p.  9.) 

179 


180  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

All  this  is  eminently  satisfactory  to  a  Newchurclnnan, 
and  one  cannot  but  wonder  that  with  such  teaching  before 
them  the  most  modern  critics  and  students  of  comparative 
mythology  should  have  gone  so  far  astray  as  to  seek  to  in- 
vert the  true  relations  between  Scripture  and  tradition. 
It  is  astonishing,  also,  that  with  all  their  minute  labors, 
the  learned  world  has  not  produced  any  one  work  in 
which  all  these  traditions  are  actually  brought  together 
in  the  form  of  original  documents.  But  most  marvellous 
of  all  is  the  fact  that  the  revelations  concerning  the  An- 
cient Churches  and  concerning  the  Ancient  "Word  have 
been  published  broadcast  to  the  world  for  a  century  and  a 
half,  and  yet,  outside  the  small  circle  of  the  New  Church, 
the  world,  the  learned  world  as  well  as  the  common  people, 
remains  as  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  this  in- 
exhaustible fountain  of  information  and  interpretation,  as 
if  it  had  never  been  opened  up.  It  is  evident  that  few  are 
able  to  discover  it  or  approach  it,  for  the  internal  sense 
of  the  Word  and  of  History,  like  the  Garden  of  Delights 
of  the  Golden  Age,  remains  guarded  by  the  angel  with  the 
flaming  sword. 

The  Assyrian  Legend. 

No  tablet  has  been  found,  as  yet,  describing  Paradise  or 
the  Golden  Age,  but  that  the  Sumero- Akkadians,  that  is, 
the  earliest  Hamitic  inhabitants  of  Chaldea,  possessed  docu- 
ments or  traditions  similar  to  the  account  in  the  second  and 
third  chapters  of  Genesis,  is  evident  from  a  cylinder  found 
by  George  Smith  and  now  preserved  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. It  pictures  a  man  and  a  woman,  seated  on  opposite 
sides  of  a  tree  from  which  hang  two  fruits.  Their  hands 
are  reaching  for  the  fruits,  and  behind  the  woman  is  seen 
an  enormous  serpent,  standing  erect  on  his  tail,  and  whis- 
pering in  her  ear.  The  cylinder  is  supposed  to  date  from 
between  four  to  five  thousand  years  B.  C,  and  is  the  most 
ancient  sample  of  "Scripture  illustrations"  that  has  yet 
been  found.     (See  frontispiece,  Fig.  1.) 

In  Assyrian  art  and  literature,  the  Tree  of  Life  plays  a 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  181 

most  prominent  part.  Assyria,  as  we  know,  corresponds 
to  the  Rational,  and  is  represented  in  the  Word  by  the 
Cedar  tree,  erect,  strong,  enduring,  and  furnished  with 
needle-like  leaves,  even  as  the  rational  man  is  furnished 
with  pointed  arguments. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  that  the  sacred  tree 
of  the  Assyrians  is  always  depicted  as  a  cone-bearing  tree, 
probably  the  Cedar,  but  highly  elaborated  and  convention- 
alized in  form.  It  is  known  as  the  ''Asherah,"  or  tree  of 
blessings,  and  is  the  same  as  the  carved  ''groves,"  which 
were  set  up  on  "high  places"  and  worshipped  by  the 
Canaanites  and  idolatrous  Jews.     (See  frontispiece.  Fig.  3.) 

The  Assyrian  Tree  of  Life  is  described  in  a  tablet  which 
has  been  deciphered  and  translated  in  The  Records  of  the 
Past,  (Vol.  IX,  p.  146). 

"In  Eridu  a  dark  pine  grew. 
In  a  holy  place  it  was  planted. 

Its  crown  was  white  crystal  which  spread  towards  the  deep. 
The  abyss  of  Ea  was  its  pasturage  in  Eridu,  a  canal  full 

of  waters. 
Its  seat  was  the  central  place  of  the  earth. 
Its  shrine  was  the  couch  of  the  primeval  mother. 
The  roof  of  its  holy  house  like  a  forest  spread  its  shade; 
There  was  none  who  entered  not  within." 

With  this  may  be  compared  the  "world-ash,"  Yggdrasil, 
of  Scandinavian  Mythology. 

The  Chaldean  Story  of  Cannes. 

We  will  insert  here  the  story  concerning  Cannes,  the  Fish- 
god,  as  related  by  Berosus  of  Babylon.  It  is  of  interest 
as  illustrating  the  original  ignorance  of  the  Preadamites, — 
the  "thick  darkness  upon  the  faces  of  the  abyss."  The 
key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  legend  lies  in  the  significa- 
tion of  a  "fish"  as  the  correspondent  of  the  knowledge  of 
natural  truth. 

In  the  beginning,  says  Berosus,  Chaldea  was  inhabited 


182 


TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


»^   fe  ^ 


by  a  great  mass  of  people  who  ' '  lived  without  rule  or  order, 
like  the  beasts  of  the  field.  In  the  first  year  there  made 
its  appearance  from  the  Erythrean  Sea,  [the  Persian  Gulf], 
an  animal  endowed  with  reason,  who  was  called  Cannes. 
The  whole  body  of  this  animal  was  like  that  of  a  fish,  but 
beneath  the  fish's  head  he  had  another  head  similar  to  that 

of  a  man,  and  the  feet  of  a  man 
beneath  the  fish's  tail.  His  voice, 
too,  and  his  language,  were  ar- 
ticulate and  human,  and  his 
figure  could  be  seen  represented 
at  Babylon  even  in  the  time  of 
the  writer,  Berosus.  This  Being 
in  the  daytime  used  to  converse 
with  men,  but  he  took  no  food 
at  that  season ;  and  he  gave  them 
a  knowledge  of  letters,  and  of 
science,  and  of  every  kind  of  art. 
He  taught  them  how  to  construct 
houses,  to  found  temples,  to  com- 
pile laws;  and  he  explained  to 
them  the  principles  of  geomet- 
rical knowledge.  He  made  them 
distinguish  the  seeds  of  the 
earth,  and  showed  them  how  to 
collect  fruits.  In  short,  he  in- 
structed them  in  everything 
which  could  tend  to  soften  man- 
ners and  humanize  mankind. 
From  that  time,  so  universal 
were  his  instructions,  nothing 
has  been  added  materially  by 
way  of  improvement.  When  the 
sun  set,  it  was  the  custom  of  this  Being  to  plunge  again 
into  the  sea,  and  abide  all  night  in  the  deep."  (Bryant, 
The  Analysis  of  Ancient  Mythology,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  103.) 
It  was  this  Cannes,  adds  Berosus,  who  wrote  the  first 
account  of  the  Creation  of  all  things. 

Comparing   this   legend   with   the   more    ancient   docu- 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  183 

ments  recently  unearthed  from  the  mounds  of  Babylonia, 
we  find  that  the  name  ''Oannes"  is  the  Greek  form  of  the 
Babylonian  Ea-khan,  Ea  the  fish.  "Ea"  was  the  name 
of  the  supreme  God  of  the  Babylonian  Pantheon,  and  is 
a  remnant  of  the  Hebrew  "Jah"  or  '^ Jehovah."  Ea  was 
''the  god  who  knoweth  all,"  the  father  of  all  the  gods, 
and  the  one  with  whom  all  the  other  gods  took  council. 
He  was  ''the  lord  of  unfathomable  wisdom,"  whose  dwell- 
ing was  "in  the  great  deep,"  by  which  the  ancients  meant 
the  depth  of  Infinite  Wisdom.  The  clay  tablets  state  that 
in  the  earliest  times,  when  the  country  was  new^  and  the 
inhabitants  were  rude  and  ignorant,  Ea  arose  out  of  the 
ocean  in  the  form  of  a  fish  and  instructed  mankind  in  all 
matters  of  civilization.  Hence  Ea  is  called  "the  intelligent 
fish,"  "the  teacher  of  mankind,"  "the  God  of  knowledge" 
and  "the  Lord  of  understanding."  The  story  of  Oannes, 
therefore,  is  only  the  echo  of  a  most  ancient  tradition  of  the 
manner  in  which  Jehovah  God  first  revealed  himself  to 
the  newly  created  human  race,  guiding  their  infant  feet 
upon  the  first  steps  toward  human  development  by  in- 
structing them  in  the  knowledge  of  natural  truth.  Thou- 
sands of  years  later,  in  the  decline  of  the  Silver  Age,  the 
veneration  of  Ea  khan  was  perverted  into  the  idolatrous 
worship  of  Dagon,  the  Philistine  fish-god. 

The  Egyptian  Legend. 

"Among  the  Egyptians,"  says  Lenormant,  "the  terres- 
trial reign  of  the  god  Ra,  who  inaugurated  the  existence 
of  the  world  and  of  human  life,  was  a  Golden  Age,  to 
which  they  continually  looked  back  with  regret  and  envy; 
to  assert  the  superiority  of  anything  above  all  that  im- 
agination could  set  forth,  it  was  sufficient  to  affirm  that  its 
like  had  never  been  seen  since  the  day^  of  the  God  Ra. 
The  same  idea  is  found  again  in  the  Egyptian  account  of 
the  succession  of  the  terrestrial  reign  of  the  gods,  the  demi- 
gods, heroes,  and  men,  as  collected  from  the  fragments  of 
Manetho."     (Beginnings  of  History,  pp.  67,  73.) 

The  creation  of  man  and  woman  is  a  frequent  subject 


184 


TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


of  representation  in  the  papyri,  where  the  god  Neph,  or 
Chnemn, — the  supreme  and  infinite  God,  whose  all-father- 
hood is  represented  by  the  ram's  head, — is  seen  fashion- 
ing our  first  parents  on  a  potter's  table. 

The  memory  of  the 
preadamite  state  sur- 
vived in  Egypt  also. 
''Some  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, ' '  saj'^  ]\Iaspero, 
' '  affirmed  that  their  first 
ancestors  were  so  many 
brutes,  unprovided  with 
the  most  essential  arts  of 
a  gentle  life.  They  knew 
nothing  of  articulate 
speech,  and  expressed 
themselves  by  cries  only, 
like  other  animals,  until 
the  day  when  Thoth 
taught  them  both  speech 
and  waiting. ' '  (  History 
OF  Egypt,  Vol.  I,  p. 
296.)  Thoth  was  the 
*' scribe    of    the    gods," — the    revealed    Word. 

Of  the  Garden  of  Eden  no  account  has  been  found  as 
yet  by  the  Egyptologists,  but  Dr.  Jeremias  communicates 
the  follo\^dng  reference  to  the  Tree  of  Life  from  a  Hymn 
to  Amen  Ra: 

"Supreme  of  all  the  gods,  lord  of  humanity,  father  of 
the  gods,  who  made  the  man  and  created  the  animals,  lord 
of  all  that  exists.  Thou  who  created  the  tree  of  life,  who 
made  the  herb  and  the  fruit  tree."  (Das  Alte  Testa- 
ment, p.  145.) 

The  Greek  Legend. 

Hesiod,  in  his  Works  and  Days,  ascribes  the  Fall  of 
Mankind  to  the  accursed  curiosity  of  Pandora,  and  states 
that  before  the  jealous  gods  had  sent  her  as  a  gift  to  Epi- 
metheus,  (''after-thought"),  "the  races  of  men  were  wont 


The  Egyptian  God  Chnemu  Model 

LING  Man  on  a  Potter's  Wheel. 

(From  the  Temple  of  Luxor.) 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.  185 

to  live  on  earth  free  from  ills,  and  without  harsh  labor  and 
the  painful  diseases  which  have  brought  death  on  mortals. 
But,  the  woman  having  with  her  hands  removed  the  great 
lid  from  the  box  [of  which  more  anon],  dispersed  these 
blessings  and  contributed  baneful  cares  for  men."  The 
poet  continues: 

''But  another  tale  will  I  briefly  tell  you,  well  and  skil- 
fully, and  do  you  ponder  it  in  your  mind:  that  gods  and 
mortal  men  are  sprung  from  the  same  origin.  First  of  all 
the  immortals  holding  the  mansions  of  Olympus  made  a 
golden  race  of  speaking  men.  (They,  indeed,  were  under 
Chronos,  at  the  time  he  ruled  in  heaven.)  And  as  gods 
men  were  then  wont  to  live,  with  a  life  void  of  care,  apart 
from,  and  without,  labors  and  troubles;  nor  was  wretched 
old  age  at  all  impending,  but,  ever  the  same  in  hands  and 
feet,  did  they  delight  themselves  in  festivals  out  of  the  reach 
of  all  ills :   and  they  died  as  if  overcome  with  sleep. 

' '  All  blessings  were  theirs ;  of  its  own  will  the  fruitful 
field  would  bear  them  fruit,  much  and  ample;  and  they 
gladly  used  to  reap  the  labors  of  their  hands  in  quietness 
along  with  many  good  things,  being  rich  in  flocks  and  dear 
to  the  blessed  gods. 

"And  after  the  earth  had  covered  this  generation,  they, 
indeed,  became  kindly  spirits,  hovering  near  the  earth, 
guardians  of  mortal  men,  and  they  watch  both  the  decisions 
of  justice  and  also  harsh  deeds,  going  to  and  fro  every- 
where over  the  earth,  having  wrapped  themselves  in  mists, 
the  givers  of  riches ;  and  this  is  the  kingly  function  which 
they  have." 

Then  follows  the  description  of  the  silver,  brazen,  and 
iron  ages.  The  age  of  the  Celestial  Church  is  also  briefly 
referred  to  in  Hesiod's  Theogony  under  the  name  of 
Uranos,  or  the  ' '  starry  Heaven, ' '  the  primeval  deity  who  is 
described  as  the  son  of  Giea,  the  earth.  He  afterwards 
married  his  mother,  and  from  this  unlawful  union  was  born 
the  race  of  Titans  who,  under  the  leadership  of  Chronos,  or 
Saturn,  deposed  and  mutilated  their  father  and  instituted 
a  reign  of  terror  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 

The  identification  of  Uranos  with  the  celestial  and  golden 


186  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

age  of  the  ]\Iost  Ancient  Church,  and  of  Chronos  and  the 
Titans  with  the  gigantic  race  of  Nephilim  or  antedilu\aans, 
has  given  us  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  whole 
Mythology  of  the  Greeks  and  Komans.  But  to  this  sub- 
ject we  will  return  when  we  come  to  the  legends  of  the 
Fall  and  of  the  Flood. 


The  Latin  Legend. 

The  "aurea  prima  sata  est  cetas"  of  Ovid  in  his  Meta- 
morphoses awakens  tender,  (or,  it  may  be,  painful)  mem- 
ories with  every  one  who,  as  a  boy,  was  set  to  parse  those 
immortal  lines.  But  for  those  who  are  not  familiar  with 
the  original,  we  reproduce  here  the  whole  of  this  most  im- 
portant document  of  comparative  mythology. 

"The  golden  age  was  first  sown,  when,  without  a  judge, 
of  their  own  accord,  without  laws,  men  practiced  both  faith 
and  righteousness.  Punishment,  and  the  fear  of  it,  did  not 
exist,  and  threatening  decrees  were  not  read  upon  the 
brazen  tables,  fixed  up  to  view,  nor  yet  did  the  suppliant 
multitude  dread  the  countenance  of  its  judge ;  but  all  were 
in  safety,  without  any  avenger.  The  pine-tree,  cut  from  its 
native  mountains,  had  not  yet  descended  to  the  flowing 
waves,  that  it  might  visit  a  foreign  region;  and  mortals 
were  acquainted  with  no  shores  beyond  their  own. 

"Not  as  yet  did  deep  ditches  surround  the  towns,  no 
trumpets  of  straight,  or  clarions  of  crooked  brass ;  no  hel- 
mets, no  swords,  existed.  "Without  occasion  for  soldiers, 
the  minds  of  men,  free  from  care,  enjoyed  an  easy  tran- 
quility. 

"The  earth  itself,  too,  in  freedom,  untouched  by  the 
harrow,  and  wounded  by  no  plowshares,  of  its  own  accord 
produced  everything,  and  men,  contented  Avith  food  created 
under  no  compulsion,  gathered  the  fruit  of  the  arbute-tree 
and  the  straw-berries  of  the  mountain,  and  cornels  and 
blackberries  adhering  to  the  prickly  bramble-bushes,  and 
acorns  which  had  fallen  from  the  wide-spreading  tree  of 
Jove. 

"Then  it  was  an  eternal  spring,  and  the  gentle  zephyrs 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  GOLVEN  AGE.  187 

with  their  soothing  breezes  cherished  the  flower  produced 
without  any  seed.  Soob,  too,  the  earth  unplowed  yielded 
crops  of  grain,  and  the  land  without  bemg  renewed  w^ 
whitened  with  the  heavy  ears  of  com.  Then  nvers  of  milk, 
then  rivers  of  nectar  were  flowing,^  and  yellow  honey  was 
distilled  from  the  green  hohn-oak."  •       .„  v„ 

"The  wide-spreading  tree  of  Jove"  we  conceive  to  be 
the  same  as  the  Tree  of  Life,  which,  however,  does  not 
otherwise  figure  in  the  Latin  traditions. 

In  this  connection  we  may  mention  the  Etruscan  legend 
of  Creation,  as  related  by  Suidas  in  his  aiieient  Greek 
Lexicon  or  Encyclopedia,  under  the  entry  of  Tyrrenia. 
Though  it  is  but  a  brief  reference,  it  bears  so  striking  a 
resemblance  to  the  Scriptural  account  as  to  cause  a  sus- 
picion of  Hebrew  or  Christian  influences.  This,  however 
is  absurd,  as  the  Etruscans  ceased  to  have  any  national 
existence  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  century  before  the  Christian 


era 


The  Etruscans,  according  to  Suidas,  believed  that  the 
Demiur^  had  limited  the  duration  of  the  world  to  twelve 
thousand  years,  and  that  he  had  placed  each  niiUennium 
under  the  dominion  of  one  sign  of  the  Zodiac  The  work 
of  Creation  occupied  six  thousand  years,  and  the  world 
will  endure  a  similar  length  of  time.  Durmg  the  first 
millennium  Heaven  and  Earth  were  created,  during  the 
second  the  firmament,  during  the  third  the  sea  and  the 
waters,  then  the  two  great  luminaries,  then  the  souls  ot 
animals,  and  at  last  man.-  (Alfred  Jeremias,  Das  Alte 
Testament,  p.  154.) 

The  Scandinavian  Saga. 
The  Elder  Edda  in  the  ' '  Song  of  the  Vala"  thus  describes 
the  golden  age  of  the  Asa-gods,  that  is,  the  most  ancient 
ones  in  Asia  who  afterwards  were  worshipped  as  gods: 

''The  Asa- gods  met 
on  the  plains  of  Ida. 
High  they  builded 


188  TRE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

their  courts  and  altars. 

Their  strength  they  tried, 

all  things  attempting. 

Smithies  they  builded,  with  gold  working, 

hammering  tongs  and  tools  hardening." 

''The  plains  of  Ida,"  where  Asgard  stood  in  the  begin- 
ning of  time,  was  the  original  Asiatic  home  of  primeval 
mankind.  The  name  signifies  "knowledge"  or  "wisdom," 
and  the  root-meaning  is  found  in  the  Hebrew  yadha,  the 
Greek  oida,  the  Latin  video  and  fides,  and  the  English  idea 
and  wit.  The  most  ancients,  therefore,  dwelt  on  the  plains 
of  knowledge  and  wisdom,  and  there,  a^ain,  they  assembled 
for  the  final  conflict  with  the  powers  of  darkness  on  the 
day  of  Ragnarok,  "the  twilight  of  the  gods,"  the  Last 
Judgment. 

Here,  in  the  beginning  of  time, 

"With  golden  tablets, 
in  joy  they  gamboled. 
Of  gold  they  had, 
more  than  they  needed; 

until  from  Jotunheim  there  came  to  the  high  ones 
three  great  and  mighty 
giant-maidens. ' ' 

These  giant-maidens,  by  whom  are  signified  powerful 
affections  of  falsity  and  lust,  brought  evil  and  conflict  into 
the  golden  age.  Jotunheim  means  "the  home  of  giants." 
The  whole  legend  is  a  dim  recollection  of  the  marriage  of 
the  sons  of  God  with  the  daughters  of  men,  the  profane 
conjunction  of  celestial  truths  with  sensual  lusts. 

The  "golden  tablets,"  which  seem  to  signify  the  long- 
lost  celestial  perceptions  which  constituted  the  primeval 
revelation,  figure  again  at  the  close  of  the  "Song  of  the 
Vala,"  when,  after  the  old  heavens  and  the  old  earth  had 
perished  in  the  universal  conflagration  of  Ragnarok,  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  had  been  created: 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  189 

' '  Then  will  the  wonderful, 
golden  tablets, — 
which  in  the  beginning 
the  Asa-gods  owned, — 
be  found  again,  in  the  grass." 

This  beautiful  legend  may  be  regarded  as  a  prophecy 
describing  the  final  restoration  of  celestial  perception,  and, 
perhaps,  also  of  the  Ancient  Word,  in  the  crowning  age 
of  the  New  Church. 

The  legend  is  described  at  greater  length  in  the  Younger 
Edda: 

''In  the  beginning  Allfather  appointed  rulers  and  bade 
them  judge  with  him  over  the  fate  of  men  and  regulate  the 
government  of  the  celestial  city.  They  met  for  this  pur- 
pose in  a  place  called  Idavold  [the  plains  of  Ida],  which 
is  the  centre  of  the  Divine  Abode,  [Asgard],  the  abode  of 
the  Asas. 

''Their  first  work  was  to  erect  a  court  or  hall,  where 
there  are  twelve  seats  for  themselves,  besides  the  throne 
which  is  occupied  by  Allfather.  This  hall  is  the  largest 
and  most  magnificent  in  the  universe,  being  resplendent 
on  all  sides  both  within  and  without  with  the  finest  gold. 
Its  names  is  Gladsheim,  [the  home  of  gladness].  They  also 
erected  another  Hall  for  the  sanctuary  of  the  goddesses. 
It  is  a  fair  structure,  and  is  called  Vangolf  [Friends'  floor]. 
Thereupon  they  built  a  smithy  and  furnished  it  with  ham- 
mers, tongs,  and  anvils,  and  with  these  made  all  other 
requisite  instruments  with  which  they  worked  in  metals, 
stone  and  wood,  and  composed  so  large  a  quantity  of  the 
metal  called  gold,  that  they  made  all  their  house  furniture 
of  it.  Hence  that  age  was  called  the  golden  age.  This  was 
the  age  that  lasted  until  the  arrival  of  the  women  out  of 
Jotunheim,  who  corrupted  it." 

' '  Yggdrasil, ' '  the  Tree  of  Life,  is  represented  as  an  Ash- 
tree  which  supported  the  whole  world.  It  has  its  roots 
deep  down  in  the  kingdom  of  Hela  (Hell  and  Death)  ;  its 
trunk  reaches  up  to  heaven,  and  its  branches  spread  over 
the  universe.     At  the  foot  of  the  tree  is  the  well  of  Vrd, 


190  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

or  wisdom,  where  sit  the  three  Nomas,  or  fates,  who  over- 
rule the  gods  themselves.  Its  name  means  "the  bearer  of 
the  Deep  Thinker, ' '  and  stands  as  a  noble  symbol  of  Divine 
Wisdom  itself. 

The  legends  of  the  Golden  Age  are,  however,  far  more 
scanty  in  the  ancient  mythologies  than  those  describing 
the  Fall,  the  Antediluvians  and  the  Flood. 


Iranian  and  Persian  Legends, 

Among  the  ancient  Iranians  the  knowledge  of  the  Four 
Ages  and  of  Paradise  was  very  complete,  and  has  been 
preserved  in  the  Zend-Avesta,  the  original  document  of  the 
religion  taught  by  Zoroaster,  which  is  still  used  by  the 
Parsees  of  India  as  their  sacred  book.  Ahura-Mazda,  or 
Ormuzd,  according  to  this  book,  created  the  world  by  means 
of  his  mystical  word  ''Honover, "  the  work  occupying  six 
periods  of  a  thousand  years  each,  man  being  the  last 
created.  (Kleuker  1 :  19,  20.)  The  duration  of  the  universe 
is  represented  as  filling  four  world-periods  of  three  thou- 
sand years  each.  During  the  first  period  all  was  pure  and 
sinless,  but  at  its  close  the  evil  one  declared  war  against 
Ahura-I\Iazda,  the  holy  God,  and  this  war  was  destined  to 
fill  the  last  three  ages. 

During  the  first  of  these  three  ages,  evil  was  still  unsuc- 
cessful; during  the  second,  good  and  evil  were  exactly 
balanced ;  but  during  the  last,  evil  obtained  and  will  main- 
tain the  supremacy  until  the  destined  overthrow,  at  the 
very  end. 

As  to  the  Paradise  w^e  read  on  the  first  page  of  the  Zend- 
Avesta  : 

"Ahura-Mazda  said  to  the  holy  Zarathustra:  'I  created, 
0  Zarathustra,  a  Place,  a  creation  of  Delights,  whither  was 
created  no  possibility  of  approach.  For,  0  holy  Zara- 
thustra, had  I  not  created  a  place,  a  creation  of  Delight, 
whither  was  created  no  possibility  of  approach,  then  would 
the  whole  world  have  gone  to  Airj^ana-vaejo.  A  first  and 
best  of  all  places  have  I  created,  I  who  am  Ahura-Mazda.'  " 

In  this  Place  of  Delight  Ahura-IMazda  planted  "many 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  191 

useful  and  healthful  trees,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the 
tree  of  Life,  called  Garokerena,  the  fruit  of  which  gives 
immortality  to  those  eating  thereof."  In  this  blessed  spot 
the  primitive  men  lived  free  from  cares  or  sicknesses  or 
death,  yea,  they  did  not  even  have  any  need  of  natural 
food. 

''The  first  of  men  was  called  Yima,  to  whom  Ahura- 
Mazda  first  revealed  himself  and  his  law.  He  became  the 
king  of  the  golden  age,  and  under  his  rule  abundance  and 
fruitfulness  never  decreased,  and  mankind  then  lived  in 
continual  youth,  in  mutual  love  and  in  immediate  inter- 
course with  God  and  his  heavenly  spirits. 

"In  the  reign  of  Yima  men  and  cattle  were  immortal; 
waters  and  trees  never  dried  up ;  the  edible  food  was  inex- 
haustible. In  his  wide  kingdom  there  was  neither  cold  nor 
heat,  nor  age,  nor  death,  nor  want — which  the  Dcevas 
created;  father  and  son  walked  side  by  side — both  of  the 
same  youthful  countenance,  as  of  fifteen  years  of  age." 

But  the  evil  power,  Agramainyus,  tempted  Yima  to 
doubt  and  pride.  Ahura-Mazda  then  left  him,  and  he  was 
killed.  With  him  earthly  immortality  came  to  an  end. 
(Zend-Avesta,  iii,  105.) 

The  Hindu  Traditions. 

The  sacred  books  of  the  Brahmans  abound  in  traditions 
distinctly  derived  from  the  Ancient  Word  and  from  the 
Doctrine  of  the  Ancient  Church. 

Thus,  in  respect  to  The  Four  Ages  we  find  the  following 
teaching  in  the  Vishnu  Purana  (Wilson's  edition,  book 
I,  ch.  3)  :  ''Every  perfect  revolution  in  the  fortunes  of 
the  universe  (mahd-yuga)  is  divided  into  four  shorter 
periods,  which  are  each  in  turn  invested  with  specific 
qualities  corresponding  to  the  distinctions  in  the  general 
history  of  man. 

After  the  Krita  or  Sataya  Age,  when  everything  was  true 
and  perfect,  came  the  Tretd-yuga,  or  age  of  Sacrifice,  [the 
Ancient  Church],  when  virtue  'having  lost  one  foot,'  and 
the  Divine  ingredient  in  our  spirit  having  waxed  feeble, 


192  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

'the  innate  perfectness  of  human  nature  was  no  more 
evolved.'  After  this  there  appeared  the  Divdpara  Age, 
the  age  of  doubt,  of  scepticism,  of  infidelity;  and  last  of 
all  the  Kali  Age,  through  which  the  world  is  said  to  be  at 
present  passing,  when  the  powers  of  darkness  and  disorder 
have  become  predominant  in  the  soul  of  man,  and  when 
external  nature  groans  beneath  the  burden  of  iniquity." 
(Hardwick:    Christ  and  Other  ]\Iasters,  I:  304.) 

As  to  the  perfection  of  the  Golden  Age  'Hhe  Hindu 
legends  are  agreed  in  representing  man  as  one  of  the  last 
products  of  creative  Wisdom,  as  the  master-work  of  God, 
and  also  in  extolling  the  first  race  of  men  as  pure  and  up- 
right, innocent  and  happy.  The  beings  who  were  thus 
created  by  Brahma  are  all  said  to  have  been  endowed  with 
righteousness  and  perfect  faith;  they  abode  wherever  they 
pleased,  unchecked  by  any  impediment;  their  hearts  were 
free  from  guile;  they  were  pure,  made  free  from  soil  by 
observance  of  sacred  institutes.  In  their  sanctified  minds 
Hari  dwelt;  and  thej^  were  filled  with  perfect  wisdom  by 
which  they  contemplated  the  glory  of  Vishnu.  The  first 
men  were  accordingly  the  best.  The  Krita  Age  was  "the 
age  of  truth,  the  reign  of  purity,  in  which  mankind,  as  it 
came  forth  from  the  Creator,  was  not  divided  into  numer- 
ous conflicting  orders,  and  in  which  the  different  faculties 
of  man  all  worked  harmoniously  together."  (Hardwick, 
p.  298.) 

As  to  Paradise  itself  we  learn  that  "the  Brahman  and 
the  Buddhist,  in  like  manner,  have  preserved  some  recol- 
lections of  the  nature  of  the  spot  in  which  those  first  in- 
habitants were  planted.  According  to  the  legends  of  the 
former,  the  abode  of  man  in  his  primeval  innocence  was  a 
fabled  mount  Meru,  the  centre  of  the  globe.  'It  is  a  high 
and  beauteous  mountain.  From  the  glittering  surface  of 
its  peaks  the  sun  diffuses  light  into  far-off  regions.  Ar- 
rayed in  gold  it  forms  a  worthy  habitation  for  the  devas 
and  gandharvas.  Hideous  dragons  guard  this  mountain; 
they  frighten  back  the  sinner  who  ventures  to  approach  it. 
The  sides  are  covered  over  with  plants  of  heavenly  origin; 
and  no  finite  thought  can  soar  as  high  as  the  cloud-pierc- 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  193 

ing  summit.  It  is  adorned  with  graceful  trees  and  limpid 
waters,  and  on  every  side  resounds  the  music  of  the  birds. ' 
To  this  description  of  the  Makdh-Jidrata  some  other  features 
may  be  added  from  different  sources.  The  position  of  Meru 
is  in  the  centre  of  a  region  called  Ildvrita ;  it  is  said  to  be 
enclosed  by  the  river  Ganges,  'which,  issuing  from  the  foot 
of  Yishnu,  and  washing  the  lunar  orb,  falls  here  from  the 
skies,  and  after  encircling  the  city  divides  into  four  mighty 
rivers,  flowing  in  opposite  directions.  On  the  summit  of 
the  mountain  is  the  dwelling  place  of  Siva,  as  well  as  the 
capital  of  Brahma.  There  also  is  the  home  of  blessed 
spirits ;  there  is  the  Nandana,  the  grove  of  Indra,  and  there 
the  Jatnbu  tree,  whose  apples,  large  as  elephants,  feed  the 
Jambu  river  with  their  juices,  and  secure  to  all  who  drink 
of  it  unvarying  health  and  happiness,  and  exemption  from 
all  physical  decay."     (Hardwick,  p.  300.) 


13 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
LEGENDS  OF  THE  FALL  AND  THE  PATRIARCHS. 

The  Assyro-Chaldean  Legends. 

Among  the  thousands  of  clay-tablets,  found  in  the  ruined 
temple-libraries  along  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates, no  documents  have  been  discovered  describing  the 
fall  of  mankind  in  a  manner  closely  resembling  the  story 
in  Genesis.  But  we  have  already  described  the  ancient 
cylinder  depicting  Adam  and  Eve  sitting  about  the  Tree 
of  Life,  mth  the  serpent  raising  its  head  behind  the  woman. 
We  introduce  here  another  remarkable  illustration,  which 
seems  to  refer  to  the  fall.  It  shows  a  human-headed  ser- 
pent, holding  in  his  hand  a  star;  in  front  stands  a  figure, 
perhaps  that  of  Eve,  reaching  for  the  star,  which  possibly 
signifies  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Behind  a  struc- 
ture, which  resembles  some  kind  of  an  altar,  stands  an- 
other figure  which  perhaps  represents  Adam.  (From  a 
cylinder  in  the  Bibliotheque  National,  Paris;  published  in 
Jeremias,  Das  Alte  Testament,  p.  215.) 


From  a  Cylinder  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Paris. 
194 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FALL  AND  THE  PATBIAECHS.      195 

The  following  document,  translated  in  the  Records  op 
THE  Past  (Vol.  VII,  pp.  127,  128),  certainly  refers  to  the 
fall  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church. 

*'.  .  .  The  Divine  Being  spoke  three  times,  the  commence- 
ment of  a  psalm. 

"The  God  of  holy  songs,  the  Lord  of  religion  and  wor- 
ship, seated  a  thousand  singers  and  musicians,  and  estab- 
lished a  choral  band,  who  to  his  hymn  were  to  respond  in 
multitudes. 


"With  a  loud  cry  of  contempt  they  broke  up  his  holy 
song, — spoiling,  confusing,  confounding  his  hymn  of  praise. 

"The  God  of  the  bright  crown,  with  a  wish  to  summon 
his  adherents,  sounded  a  trumpet-blast  which  would  wake 
the  dead, — which  to  those  rebel-angels  prohibited  return. 

' '  He  stopped  their  service,  and  sent  them  to  the  gods  who 
were  his  enemies.     In  their  room  he  created  mankind. 

' '  The  first  who  received  life  dwelt  along  with  him.  May 
he  give  them  strength  never  to  neglect  his  Word, —  by  fol- 
lowing the  voice  of  the  serpent  whom  his  hands  had  made ! 

' '  And  may  the  God  of  Divine  speech  expel  from  his  five- 
thousand  that  mcked  one-thousand,  who  in  the  midst  of 
his  heavenly  song  had  shouted  evil  blasphemies! 

' '  The  god  Asshur,  who  had  seen  the  malice  of  those  gods 
who  deserted  their  allegiance,  refused  to  go  forth  with 
them." 

This  noble  composition,  which  in  its  general  style  re- 
sembles certain  portions  of  the  book  of  Job  and  undoubt- 
edly was  part  of  the  sacred  literature  of  the  Ancient  Church, 
describes  the  primeval  establishment  of  the  holy,  internal 
worship  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  which  afterwards  was 
"spoiled,  confused,  and  confounded,"  in  other  words, 
profaned,  by  disobedience  or  "by  following  the  voice  of 
the  serpent."  The  narrative  has  been  called  "the  Rebel- 
lion in  heaven, ' '  and  is  supposed  to  refer  to  the  fall  of  the 
angels,  but  all  the  stories  of  the  fallen  angels  simply  de- 
scribe the  fall  of  the  celestial  men.  The  reference  to  "the 
voice  of  the  serpent"  shows  the  Scriptural  origin  of  this 


196  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

story.  The  sentence  "in  their  room  he  created  mankind" 
refers,  we  think,  to  the  establishment  of  the  race  of  spiritual 
men  who  constituted  the  subsequent  Ancient  Church.  The 
god  Asshur,  ''who  refused  to  go  forth"  with  the  rebels, 
may  refer  to  Noah,  who  by  virtue  of  rational  integrity,  sep- 
arated himself  from  the  antediluvians.  "Asshur"  signifies 
the  rational. 

The  profane  and  horrible  state  of  the  antediluvians,  or 
the  Nephilim,  is  vividly  described  in  the  following  corre- 
spondential  song  of  the  ancient  Chaldeans: 

' '  Seven  are  they ;   seven  are  they. 

In  the  channel  of  the  deep,  seven  are  they. 

In  the  radiance  of  heaven,  seven  are  they. 

In  the  channel  of  the  deep,  in  a  palace  they  gi'ew  up. 

Male  they  are  not,  female  they  are  not. 

In  the  midst  of  the  deep  are  their  paths. 

Wife  they  have  not,  sons  they  have  not. 

Order  and  kindness  they  know  not. 

Prayer  and  supplication  they  hear  not. 

The  caverns  of  the  mountains  they  enter. 

Unto  Ea  they  are  hostile;   the  throne-bearers  of  the  gods 
are  they. 

Disturbing,  in  the  torrent  are  they  set. 

Baleful  are  they ;  baleful  are  they. 

Seven  are  they;   seven  are  they. 
Seven  twice  again  are  they. 

May  the  spirits  of  heaven  remember;   may  the  spirits  of 
earth  remember."     (Records  of  the  Past.) 

This  thrilling  description  of  the  most  fearful  of  demons 
is  in  thorough  harmony  with  the  account  of  the  antedilu- 
vians and  of  other  profaners,  as  revealed  in  the  Writings 
of  the  New  Church.  "Seven"  signifies  what  is  holy,  but 
in  the  opposite  sense  what  is  profane.  "In  a  palace  they 
grew  up,"  "in  the  channel  of  the  deep:"  they  had  been 
gifted  originally  with  profound  perceptions  of  interior 
wisdom.  But  afterwards  their  "channels  of  the  deep" 
became  the  deepest  of  all  hells,  "the  caverns  of  the  moun- 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FALL  AND  THE  PATBIABCHS.      197 

tains."  There  is  with,  them  nothing  of  the  conjugial: 
''male  they  are  not,  female  they  are  not."  In  the  light  of 
heaven  they  appear  ''like  charred  skeletons  and  are  there- 
fore spoken  of  in  the  neuter  gender,"  and  as  they  do  not 
appear  in  the  human  form  "they  are  called  it,  that  is,  non- 
man"  (S.  D.  5950;  A.  E.  375).  They  are  called  "throne- 
bearers  of  the  gods,"  because  this  was  the  regular  Chal- 
dean synonym  for  black  storm-clouds,  and  by  these  are 
signified  doubt,  denial  and  spiritual  destruction.  "Unto 
Ea  they  are  hostile."  Ea,  or  Hea,  was  the  supreme  and 
most  ancient  of  the  Babylonian  gods,  and  his  name  is  one 
with  the  name  Jehovah. 

Persian  and  Hindu  Traditions. 

According  to  the  Zend  Avesta,  the  two  progenitors  of 
mankind,  who  were  named  Meschia  and  Meschiana,  were 
created  for  happiness  in  this  world  and  in  the  world  to 
come.  At  first  they  acted  according  to  their  original  na- 
ture, acknowledging  that  all  things  were  derived  from 
Ormuzd.  But  they  were  seduced  by  an  evil  spirit.  (Kleu- 
ker's  Zend  Avesta,  part  3,  p.  84.) 

The  sacred  books  of  the  Brahmans  contain  a  far  more 
complete  account  of  the  Fall.  The  first  man  was  called 
Manu,  and  his  wife  Satarupa.  ' '  In  order  to  try  them,  Siva, 
who  is  in  the  present  story  identified  with  the  Supreme 
Being,  drops  from  heaven  a  blossom  of  the  sacred  vata,  or 
Indian  fig, — a  tree  which  has  been  always  venerated  by  the 
natives  on  account  of  its  gigantic  size  and  grateful  shadow, 
and  invested  by  Brahman  and  by  Buddhist  alike — with 
mysterious  significations  as  'the  tree  of  knowledge  or  in- 
telligence,' {hodhidruma) .  Captivated  by  the  beauty  of 
this  blossom,  the  first  man  is  determined  to  possess  it.  He 
imagines  that  it  will  entitle  him  to  occupy  the  place  of  the 
Immortal  and  hold  converse  with  the  Infinite ;  and  on  gath- 
ering up  the  blossom  he  at  once  becomes  intoxicated  by 
this  fancy,  and  believes  himself  divine.  But  ere  the  flash 
of  exaltation  has  subsided,  God  himself  appears  to  him  in 
terrible  majesty,  and  the  astonished  culprit,  stricken  by  the 


198  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

curse  of  heaven,  is  banished  far  from  Brahniapattana  and 
consigned  to  an  abyss  of  misery  and  degradation.  From 
this,  however,  (adds  the  story),  an  escape  is  rendered  pos- 
sible on  the  expiration  of  some  weary  term  of  suffering 
and  of  penance,  and  the  parallelism  which  it  presents  to 
sacred  history  is  well-nigh  completed  when  the  legend  tells 
us  further  that  woman,  his  own  wife,  whose  being  was 
derived  from  his,  had  instigated  the  ambitious  hopes,  w^hich 
led  to  their  expulsion,  and  entailed  so  many  ills  on  their 
posterity."  (Hardwick,  Christ  and  Other  Masters,  I, 
p.  306.) 

Some  Legends  of  Central  Asia. 

Thibetan  Mythology  describes  the  primordial  state  of 
mankind  as  one  of  perfection  and  spirituality.  But  the 
desire  to  eat  of  a  sweet  herb,  named  scliima,  put  an  end  to 
that  condition.  Shame  sprang  up  within  the  fallen;  the 
need  of  clothing  was  felt.  They  were  driven  to  agriculture 
by  necessity.  Virtue  fled;  murder,  adultery,  and  all  other 
vices  succeeded.  (Standlin.  Archiv  fur  Kirchenge- 
SCHICHTE,  I,  p.  15.) 

According  to  the  traditions  of  the  Lamaic  faith,  the  first 
men  lived  to  the  age  of  sixty  thousand  years.  They  were 
invisibly  nourished  and  were  able  to  raise  themselves  at 
will  to  the  heavens.  In  this  age  of  the  world  the  transmi- 
gration of  souls  was  universal, — all  men  were  born  twice; 
and  in  this  age  it  was  that  the  thousand  gods  settled  them- 
selves in  heaven.  In  an  unlucky  hour  the  earth  produced 
an  honey-sweet  substance;  one  of  the  men  lusted  after  it, 
tasted,  and  gave  to  his  companions.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  men  lost  their  size,  their  wisdom,  and  the  power 
of  rising  from  off  the  earth,  and  were  obliged  to  satisfy 
themselves  with  food  produced  by  the  soil.  (Pallas,  Reise, 
I,  p.  334.) 

An  Echo  from  Madagascar. 

The  inhabitants  of  Madagascar  have  a  strange  myth  re- 
specting the  fall,  and  the  origin  of  woman.     They  say  that 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FALL  AND  THE  PATBIAECHS.      199 

the  first  man  was  created  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  was 
placed  in  a  garden  where  he  was  subject  to  none  of  the 
ills  which  now  afflict  mortality.  He  was  also  free  from 
all  bodily  appetites,  and  though  surrounded  by  delicious 
fruit  and  limpid  streams,  yet  felt  no  desire  to  taste  of  the 
fruit  or  to  quaff  the  water.  The  Creator  had,  moreover, 
strictly  forbidden  him  either  to  eat  or  to  drink.  The  great 
enemy,  however,  came  to  him,  and  painted  to  him  in  glow- 
ing colors  the  sweetness  of  the  apple,  the  lusciousness  of 
the  date,  and  the  succulence  of  the  orange. 

In  vain!  the  first  man  remembered  the  command  laid 
upon  him  by  his  Maker.  Then  the  fiend  assumed  the  ap- 
pearance of  an  effulgent  spirit,  and  pretended  to  be  a  mes- 
senger from  Heaven,  commanding  him  to  eat  and  drink. 
The  man  at  once  obeyed.  Shortly  after,  a  pimple  appeared 
on  his  leg;  the  spot  enlarged  to  a  tumor,  which  increased 
in  size  and  caused  him  considerable  annoyance.  At  the 
end  of  six  months  it  burst,  and  there  emerged  from  the 
limb  a  beautiful  girl.  Her  he  called  Bahouna,  and  when 
she  became  of  marriageable  age  he  took  her  to  himself  as 
his  wife,  and  she  became  the  mother  of  all  races  of  men. 
(Baring- Gould,  Legends  of  the  Patriarchs  and  Proph- 
ets, p.  31.) 

American  Legends. 

In  Mexican  Mythology  the  first  woman  is  known  as  ''the 
lady  with  the  serpent,"  or  ''the  lady  of  our  flesh,"  and 
she  had  twin  sons.  The  accompanying  illustration  presents 
her  speaking  with  the  serpent,  while  the  little  twin  sons 
are  engaged  in  combat.  She  was  venerated  in  Mexico  as 
the  wife  of  the  god  of  the  heavenly  paradise.  (Alf.  Jere- 
mias,  Das  Alte  Testament,  p.  213.) 

The  tradition  of  the  Dog-rib  Indians  near  the  Polar  Sea, 
as  related  by  Sir  J.  Franklin  in  his  account  of  his  expedi- 
tion of  1825-27,  is  that  the  first  man  was  called  Tschapiwik. 
He  found  the  earth  filled  with  abundance  of  all  good  things. 
He  begat  children,  and  he  gave  to  them  two  sorts  of  fruit, 
one  white  and  the  other  black,  and  he  bade  them  eat  the 
white,  but  eschew  the  black.     And  having  given  them  this 


200 


THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 


command,  he  left  tliem  and  went  on  a  long  journey  to 
fetch  the  sun  to  enlighten  the  world.  During  his  absence 
they  ate  only  of  the  white  fruit,  and  then  the  father  made 
a  second  journey  to  fetch  the  moon,  leaving  them  well  pro- 
vided with  fruit.  But  after  a  while  they  forgot  his  com- 
mand, and  con- 
sumed the  black 
fruit.  On  his 
return  he  was 
angry,  and 
cursed  the 
ground  that  it 
should  thence- 
forth produce 
only  the  black 
fruit,  and  that 
with  it  there 
should  come  in 
sickness  and 
death. 

In  Greenland 
"the  first  man 
is  said  to  have  been  named  Kallak.  He  came  out  of  the 
earth,  but  his  ^Wfe  issued  from  his  thumb,  and  from  them 
all  generations  of  men  have  sprung.  The  woman  brought 
death  into  the  world,  in  that  she  said :  '  Let  us  die  to  make 
room  for  our  successors.'  "  (Cranz,  Historie  von  Gron- 
LAND,  Leipzig,  1770,  I,  p.  262.) 


Mexican  Eepresextatiox  of  the  First 

Woman,  the  Serpent,  and  Two 

Children  Fighting. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
LEGENDS  CONCERNING  ENOCH. 

"In  the  number  given  by  the  Bible  for  the  antediluvian 
patriarchs,"  says  Lenormant,  ''we  have  the  first  instance  of 
a  striking  agreement  with  traditions  of  various  nations. 
Ten  are  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  and  a  remark- 
able coincidence  gives  the  same  number,  ten,  in  the  legends 
of  a  great  number  of  people,  for  those  primitive  ancestors 
whose  history  is  lost  in  a  mist  of  fable.  To  whatever  epoch 
they  carry  back  these  ancestors,  whether  before  or  after  the 
deluge,  whether  the  mythical  or  historical  character  pre- 
vails in  the  picture,  they  are  constant  to  this  sacred  num- 
ber, ten. 

''In  Chaldea,  Berosus  enumerates  ten  antediluvian  kings, 
whose  fabulous  reign  extended  to  thousands  of  ordinary 
years,  forming  ten  cosmic  days.  The  legends  of  the  Iranian 
race  commence  with  the  reign  of  ten  Peisdadien  kings, 
'men  of  ancient  law,'  who  lived  on  'pure  Homa  (water  of 
life),  and  who  preserved  their  sanctity.'  In  India  we  meet 
with  the  nine  Bradmadikas,  who,  with  Brahma,  their 
founder,  make  ten,  and  who  are  called  the  Ten  Petris  or 
Fathers.  The  Chinese  count  ten  emperors,  partakers  of 
the  Divine  nature,  before  the  dawn  of  historical  times.  And 
finally,  not  to  multiply  instances,  the  Germans  and  Scandi- 
navians believed  in  the  ten  ancestors  of  Odhin,  and  the 
Arabs  in  the  ten  mythical  kings  of  the  Adites,  the  primor- 
dial people  of  their  peninsula.  Such  an  agreement  can- 
not be  accidental,  and  must  lead  us  back  to  a  common  origin 
for  all  these  traditions."     (Anc.  Hist.,  I,  p.  12.) 

The  ten  partriarchs,  from  Adam  to  Noah,  represent  the 
complete  history  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  from  its  be- 
ginning even  to  its  vastation  and  the  establishment  of  a 
new  Church. 

201 


202  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

There  are  in  the  ancient  legends  numerous  allusions  to 
particular  patriarchs,  but  especially  to  Enoch,  who  repre- 
sents a  generation  which  undertook  the  important  task  of 
collecting  and  writing  down  the  celestial  doctrines  and  cor- 
respondential  traditions  handed  down  by  the  men  of  the 
Most  Ancient  Church  to  their  degenerating  posterity. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  a  knowledge  of  the  true  sig- 
nificance of  Enoch,  though  utterly  unknow^n  to  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  still  remains  in  legendary  form  among  vari- 
ous oriental  nations  descended  from  the  Ancient  Church. 
Thus  the  Jewish  Rabbis  still  maintain  that  the  passage  in 
Genesis  v:l,  "This  is  the  book  of  the  generations  of  Adam," 
means  that  Moses  here  quoted  from  a  book  written  by  our 
first  parent,  which  Adam  afterwards  gave  to  Enoch. 
(Fabricius,  I,  p.  11.) 

Josephus,  on  the  other  hand,  tells  us  that  the  patriarch 
Seth,  unwilling  that  the  wisdom  and  astronomical  discover- 
ies of  the  ancients  should  perish  in  the  double  destruction 
of  the  world,  by  fire  and  by  water,  which  Adam  had  pre- 
dicted, set  up  two  pillars,  on  w^hich  were  engraved  the  rec- 
ords of  this  wisdom,  and  which,  he  says,  still  remain  in  the 
land  of  ''Siriad,"  by  which,  perhaps,  he  means  Sinear,  or 
Chaldea.     (Jewish  Antiquities,  I,  2,  3.) 

The  Arabic  tradition  of  Enoch  is  very  circumstantial  and 
interesting : 

"Enoch,  or  Edris,  as  he  is  called  by  the  Arabs,  was  born 
in  Hinclostan,  but  he  lived  in  Yemen.  He  was  a  prophet. 
In  his  days  men  worshiped  fire,  being  deceived  by  Eblis. 
"When  God  sent  Enoch  to  his  brethren  to  turn  them  from 
their  false  worship,  they  would  not  believe  him. 

' '  Idolatry  began  in  the  times  of  Jared,  son  of  jMahalaleel, 
and  it  spread  to  such  an  extent  that,  when  Noah  was  born, 
there  were  not  eighty  persons  who  worshiped  the  true  and 
living  and  only  God. 

' '  Enoch  knew  how  to  sew,  and  was  an  accomplished  tailor. 
He  luas  the  first  to  put  pen  to  paper;  he  w^rote  many  books. 
He  had  in  his  possession  the  books  of  Adam,  and  for  ten 
years,  instead  of  sleeping,  he  spent  the  night  in  reading 
them.     He  also  read  these  books  to  the  people,  and  en- 


LEGENDS  CONCEENING  ENOCH.  203 

deavored  thereby  to  bring  them  back  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  true  God."  (Related  in  the  Chronicle  of  Abou-djafar 
Tabari,  published  in  French  at  Paris,  1867.) 

Judging  from  internal  evidence,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the 
''Book  of  Enoch,"  from  which  the  apostle  Jude  quotes, 
and  which  was  rediscovered  in  Abyssinia  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  is  not  the  actual  book  of  Enoch  which 
was  a  part  of  the  Ancient  Word  itself.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
stated  in  the  Apocalypse  Explained,  n.  735,  that  "these 
words  of  Jude  (v.  9),  the  apostle  quoted  from  ancient  books 
which  were  written  by  correspondences,"  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  it  contains  at  least  some  fragments  from  the 
genuine,  most  ancient  book.  At  any  rate,  we  quote  from 
the  Abyssinian  volume  the  following  charge  from  God  to 

Enoch :  , 

"Hear,  and  fear  not,  Enoch,  thou  righteous  man  and 
writer  of  righteousness,  come  hither  and  hear  my  words : 
Go,  speak  unto  the  Watchers  of  Heaven,  and  say  unto  them. 
Ye' shall  pray  for  men,  and  not  men  for  you.     Why  have  ye 
forsaken  the  high  and  holy  and  eternal  heaven,  and  have 
joined  yourselves  to  women,  and  polluted  yourselves  with 
the  daughters  of  men,  and  have  taken  to  you  wives,  and 
have  become  the  fathers  of  a  giant  race?     Ye  who  were 
spiritual,  holy,  and  enjoying  eternal  life,  have  corrupted 
yourselves  with  women.  .  .  .  And  now  the  giants,  who  are 
born  of  flesh  and  blood,  shall  become  evil  spirits,  and  their 
dwelling  shall  be  on  the  earth.     Bad  beings  shall  proceed 
from  them.     Because  they  have  been  generated  from  above, 
from  the  holy  Watchers  have  they  received  their  origin; 
therefore  shall  they  be  evil  spirits  on  the  earth,  and  evil 
spirits  shall  they  be  called.     And  the  spirits  of  the  giants, 
which  mount  upon  the  clouds,  shall  fail  and  be  cast  down, 
and  do  violence  and  cause  ruin  on  the  earth,  and  injury. 
(Das  Buck  Henoch,  Leipzig,  1853,  xv,  p.  9.) 

To  this  may  be  added  the  Phrygian  story,  related  by 
Suidas  in  his  Lexicon,  of  the  ancient  king  Annachus  or  Nen- 
nakos,  who  reigned  at  Iconium  long  before  Deukalion 
(Noah)  ;  he  reached  an  age  of  more  than  three  hundred 
years,  foretold  the  deluge,  wept  and  prayed  for  his  people, 


204  TRE  GOLDEN  AGE.     ' 

and  called  all  his  subjects  together  to  warn  them  against 
the  impending  destruction. 

Our  comparative  analysis  next  leads  us  to  the  account 
of  the  Flood  which  has  been  related  by  the  Chaldean  priest, 
Berosus,  in  the  time  of  Alexander.  It  is  evident  that 
Berosus  drew  upon  the  Assyrian  document  concerning  the 
Flood,  but  it  is  probable  also  that  he  had  other,  and  per- 
haps still  more  ancient,  sources  of  information. 

In  his  second  book  Berosus  states  that  ten  kings  reigned 
in  Chaldea  after  the  world  was  first  created,  and  that 
they  reigned  423,000  years.  The  ninth  king  was  named 
Ardates. 

After  the  death  of  Ardates,  his  son  Xisuthros  reigned 
eighteen  years.  In  his  time  there  happened  a  great  Deluge, 
the  history  of  which  is  thus  described :  The  Deity,  Chronos, 
appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  warned  him  that  upon  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  month  D^esius,  there  would  be  a  flood, 
by  which  mankind  would  be  destroyed.  He  therefore  en- 
joined him  to  write  a  history  of  the  beginning,  procedure, 
and  conclusion  of  all  things ;  and  to  bury  it  in  the  city  of 
the  Sun,  Sippora ;  and  to  build  a  vessel,  and  take  with  him 
into  it  his  friends  and  relations,  and  to  convey  on  board 
everything  necessary  to  sustain  life,  together  with  all  the 
different  animals,  both  birds  and  quadrupeds,  and  trust  him- 
self fearlessly  to  the  deep.  Ha\ang  asked  the  Deity  whither 
he  was  to  sail,  he  was  answered:  ''To  the  Gods,"  upon 
which  he  offered  up  a  prayer  for  the  good  of  mankind.  He 
then  obeyed  the  Divine  admonition,  and  built  a  vessel  five 
stadia  in  length,  and  two  in  breadth.  Into  this  he  put 
everything  w^hich  he  had  prepared,  and  embarked  in  it  with 
his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  personal  friends.  After  the 
flood  had  been  upon  the  earth,  and  was  in  time  abated, 
Xisuthros  sent  out  some  birds  from  the  vessel,  which,  not 
flnding  any  food,  nor  any  place  where  they  could  rest,  re- 
turned to  the  vessel.  After  an  interval  of  some  days 
Xisuthros  sent  out  the  birds  a  second  time,  and  now  they 
returned  to  the  ship  with  mud  on  their  feet.  A  third  time 
he  repeated  the  experiment,  and  then  they  returned  no 
more ;   whence  Xisuthros  judged  that  the  earth  was  visible 


LEGENDS  CONCERNING  ENOCH.  205 

above  the  waters;  and  accordingly  he  made  an  opening  in 
the  vessel,  and  seeing  that  it  was  stranded  upon  the  site  of 
a  certain  mountain,  he  quitted  it  with  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ter, and  the  pilot.  Having  then  paid  his  adoration  to  the 
earth,  and  having  built  an  altar  and  offered  sacrifices  to  the 
gods,  he,  together  with  those  who  had  left  the  vessel  with 
him,  disappeared.  Those  who  had  remained  behind,  when 
they  found  that  Xisuthros  and  his  companions  did  not  re- 
turn, in  their  turn  left  the  vessel  and  began  to  look  for  him, 
calling  him  by  his  name.  Him  they  saw  no  more,  but  a 
voice  came  to  them  from  heaven  bidding  them  to  lead  pious 
lives,  and  so  join  him  who  was  gone  to  live  with  the  gods ; 
and  he  further  informed  them  that  his  wife,  his  daughter 
and  the  pilot  had  shared  the  same  honor.  It  was  told  them, 
moreover,  that  they  should  return  to  Babylon,  and  how  it 
was  ordained  that  they  should  take  up  the  writings  that 
had  been  buried  in  Sippora,  and  impart  them  to  mankind, 
and  that  the  country,  where  they  then  were,  was  the  land 
of  Armenia.  The  rest,  having  heard  these  words,  offered 
sacrifices  to  the  gods  and,  taking  a  circuit,  journeyed  to 
Babylon.  The  vessel  being  thus  stranded  in  Armenia,  some 
part  of  it  still  remains  in  the  mountain  of  the  Corcyraeans 
(the  Kurds),  in  Armenia,  and  the  people  scrape  off  the 
bitumen  from  the  vessel  and  make  use  of  it  by  way  of 
charms.  Now,  when  those  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  re- 
turned to  Babylon,  they  dug  up  the  writings  which  had 
been  buried  at  Sippora;  they  also  founded  many  cities, 
and  built  temples,  and  thus  the  country  of  Babylon  be- 
came inhabited  again."  (Cory,  Ancient  Fragments,  pp. 
26-29.) 

This  story,  which,  indeed,  refers  mostly  to  the  Flood,  is 
quite  remarkable  also  in  its  references  to  the  prsediluvian 
writings  which  were  collected  by  Enoch,  hidden  away,  and 
preserved  for  the  use  of  the  Ancient  Church.  It  is  note- 
worthy, also,  that  "the  city  of  the  Sun,  Sippora,"  signi- 
fies ''the  city  of  books,"  the  Biblical  Separvaim,  which, 
moreover,  is  probably  the  same  as  the  city  of  "Suripak," 
mentioned  in  the  Sumero-Akkadian  account  of  the 
Flood. 


206  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.     ' 

Enoch  and  "Hermes  Trismegistus. " 

A  traditional  knowledge  of  Enoch  survived  in  ancient 
Egypt,  where  we  find  the  god  Thoth,  who  by  the  Greeks 
was  called  "Hermes  Trismegistus,"  the  "thrice  greatest." 
The  legends  concerning  this  mysterious  individual  is  of 
special  interest  to  the  New  Church,  because  here  we  find  a 
distinct  reference  to  the  history  of  the  Ancient  Word. 

Thoth,  like  the  Greek  Hermes,  was  the  messenger  of  the 
gods,  the  conductor  of  resurrected  spirits,  the  patron  of 
letters  and  learning,  and  the  chief  medium  of  communica- 
tion between  gods  and  men.  He  was  also  the  Scribe  of  the 
gods,  the  "Scribe  of  Truth,"  the  "Lord  of  Divine  Words," 
and  the  priestly  office  stood  under  his  special  protection. 

Herodotus,  Manetho,  Plutarch  and  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria all  testify  that  there  were  two,  and  some  of  them  say 
three,  successive  individuals  who  bore  the  distinguished 
name  of  "Hermes  Trismegistus."  The  first  Hermes, 
known  as  the  * '  Celestial  Hermes, ' '  was  the  god  Thoth  him- 
self, who  "was  also  identical  with  that  Edries  or  Enoch, 
who  among  the  Chaldeans  bore  the  surnames  of  Uriai  or 
Duwanei,  i.  e.,  'great  wise  one';  he  is  said  to  have  lived 
one  thousand  years  after  Adam,  thus  in  the  second  mil- 
lennium of  the  world,  and  was  the  greatest  sage  of  the 
earth."     (Vollmer:  Worterbuch  der  Mythologie,  p.  850.) 

According  to  Manetho,  this  first  Hermes  lived  before  the 
Flood,  and  inscribed  on  tablets,  in  sacred  hieroglyphics,  the 
secret  or  esotoric  doctrines  of  the  most  ancient  times,  to- 
gether with  the  elements  of  all  human  knowledge.  The 
Egyptian  priests  declared  that  they  owed  to  him  all  that 
wonderfully  minute  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  state  of 
man  after  death  which  is  recorded  in  the  "Book  of  the 
Dead."  But  these  tablets  were  afterwards  buried  in  the 
earth  and  thus  lost  from  view,  during  a  period  of  social 
revolutions  and  natural  catastrophies  which  once  upon  a 
time  overwhelmed  the  ancient  world. 

A  SECOND  Hermes  Trismegistus  appeared  after  the 
deluge,  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  millennium ;  in  the  tra- 
dition of  the  Arabs  he  is  known  as  "the  second  Uriai,"  or 


LEGENDS  CONCERNING  ENOCH.  207 

''Hermes-al-Mothaleth."  He  is  said  to  have  unearthed  the 
hidden  tablets  of  the  first  Hermes,  and  he  interpreted  the 
sacred  symbols  inscribed  upon  them,  and  translated  their 
contents  to  the  comprehension  of  the  common  people.  With 
these  as  a  basis  he  wrote  at  the  command  of  God  a  great 
number  of  inspired  books,  in  which  may  be  found  every- 
thing that  the  human  mind  is  capable  of  learning.  These 
books,  which  treated  of  universal  principles,  of  the  nature 
and  order  of  celestial  beings,  of  astrology,  medicine,  etc., 
were  deposited  in  the  temples  in  the  care  of  the  priesthood, 
and  to  these  books  is  ascribed  the  restoration  of  wisdom 
taught  by  the  first  Hermes,  and  the  revival  of  theology, 
science,  art  and  culture  among  the  ancient  Egyptians.  This 
second  Hermes  also  taught  that  the  lower  world  was  cre- 
ated after  the  similitude  of  the  upper  world,  and  ' '  he  estab- 
lished a  vast  system  of  correspondencies  between  the  three 
worlds,  the  physical  or  material,  the  rational  or  intermedi- 
ary, and  the  psychical  or  spiritual."  (Encyclop.  Britan- 
NiCA,  Vol.  I,  p.  463.) 

Then,  according  to  Eusebius  and  other  ancient  writers, 
there  arose  a  third  Hermes  Trismegistus,  who  lived  a  lit- 
tle after  the  time  of  Moses.  He  was  a  celebrated  Egyp- 
tian priest  and  philosopher,  who  collected  the  maxims, 
commentaries  and  interpretations,  ('hermeneutics")  of  the 
second  Hermes,  and  wrote  them  down  in  forty-two  books, 
which  are  known  as  the  "hermetic  books,"  treating  in  oc- 
cult language  of  theology,  astrology,  science,  art,  etc.,  and 
also  containing  the  recipe  for  the  making  of  gold,  and  for 
finding  the  "philosophers'  stone,"  on  which  account  they 
were  much  revered  and  studied  by  the  alchemists  and 
mystics  of  later  ages.  It  must  be  to  this  third  Trismegistus 
that  Swedenborg  refers  in  the  Spiritual  Diary,  n.  6083, 
where  he  speaks  of  "Trismegistus,  in  Egypt,  at  the  time  of 
Moses,  who  is  supposed  to  have  discovered  how  to  express 
the  ideas  of  the  mind  by  means  of  images  called  hieroglyph- 
ics." 

Fragments  of  the  works  of  this  last  Hermes  still  exist 
in  Arabic  and  Latin  versions,  but  they  are  said  to  be  so 
mixed  with  later  interpolations  of  gnostic,  cabalistic  and 


208  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.      ' 

alchemistic  nature,  that  it  is  difficult  to  judge  as  to  their 
original  value.  They  may  have  been,  when  first  written, 
a  series  of  commentaries  on  the  books  of  the  ''second 
Hermes."  As  to  the  latter, — the  books  of  the  second 
Hermes, — it  is  perfectly  clear  from  the  whole  context  that 
we  have  here  a  marvelously  distinct  reference  to  the  many 
and  various  books  which  constituted  the  Ancient  Word  as 
a  whole;  while  "the  tablets  of  the  first  Hermes"  with  equal 
certainty  refer  to  the  Book  of  Enoch  which  was  written  be- 
fore the  Flood. 

In  view  of  all  the  evidence  here  adduced,  the  Newchurch- 
man  can  but  marvel  at  the  convincing  tribute  which  every 
find  of  Archeology  brings  to  the  super-human  and  there- 
fore Divine  nature  of  the  Revelation  given  through  Em- 
manuel Swedenborg,  for  Swedenborg  did  not  and  could  not 
by  any  possibility  have  known  these  things  from  any  earthly 
source  of  information.  He  know  the  Classics  as  few  men 
ever  did,  but  Egypt,  Babylonia,  and  Assyria  had  not  in  his 
time  begun  to  yield  even  the  first  of  their  buried  secrets. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 
LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD. 

The  Babylonian  Story. 

Of  all  the  documents  hitherto  discovered  in  the  Tigris- 
Euphrates  region,  there  is  none  of  greater  importance  than 
the  Assy ro-Baby Ionian  account  of  the  Great  Flood.  It  is 
written  in  cuneiform  characters,  and  in  the  Assyrian  lan- 
guage, a  tongue  closely  related  to  the  Hebrew,  but  it  is 
known  to  be  a  translation  made  at  the  command  of  As- 
surbanipal  from  a  far  more  ancient  Babylonian  text,  orig- 
inally written  in  a  kind  of  hieroglyphic  characters,  and  in 
the  Hamitic  tongue  of  the  Sumero- Akkadians.  The  As- 
syrian text  is  fragmentary,  the  clay-tablets  on  which  it  was 
written  having  been  broken  into  hundreds  of  pieces  which 
have  been  fitted  together  with  infinite  care  by  the  scholars 
of  the  British  Museum.  The  translation  here  presented 
was  made  under  the  guidance  of  Prof.  Hilprecht,  and  has 
been  carefully  compared  with  the  more  recent  versions  of 
Prof.  Clay  and  Dr.  Jeremias. 

The  Babylonian  story  of  the  Flood  is  found  in  the  elev- 
enth tablet  of  the  "Izdubar"  series.  The  name  of  the  hero 
of  the  story  has  been  variously  deciphered  as  "Izdubar," 
or  ' '  Gilgamesh. "  He  is  introduced  as  wandering  about  in 
the  spiritual  world,  where,  to  his  great  surprise,  he  meets 
in  perfect  human  form  his  old  friend, ' '  Shamas-napishtim, ' ' 
or  ^'Ut-napishtim,"  a  name  which  is  also  conjectural,  not 
yet  having  been  satisfactorily  deciphered.  The  following 
conversation  now  takes  place  between  them : 

[First  Column.] 

"Izdubar  to  him  spoke,  to  Shamashnapishtim,  afar  off: 
'I  see  thee,  0  Shamashnapishtim. 
14  209 


210  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Thy  figure  has  not  changed;  as  I  art  thou.  And  thou 
thyself  hast  not  changed,  as  I  art  thou.  .  .  . 

How  didst  thou  betake  thyself,  and  in  the  assembly  of 
the  gods,  how  didst  thou  find  life  ? 

Shamashnapishtim  to  him  spoke,  to  Izdubar: 

I  will  reveal  to  thee,  0  Izdubar,  the  hidden  matter, 

And  the  secret  of  the  gods,  to  thee  I  will  tell  it. 

The  city  Shurippak,  the  city  which  thou  knowest  of,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  it  is  situated. 

This  city  was  ancient,  when  the  gods  within  it, 

To  the  sending  of  a  Flood  moved  their  hearts.  The 
gods,  the  great. 

All  of  them ;  their  father,  Anu ;  their  councillor,  Bel ; 

Their  herald,  Ninip ;  their  leader,  Ennugi. 

Ea,  the  god  of  unfathomable  wisdom,  was  speaking  with 
them. 

Their  counsel  he  made  known  to  the  land:  'Land,  land; 
Field,  field! 

Land,  hearken!     Field,  listen! 

0  Surippakite,  son  of  Ubaratutu. 

Destroy  the  house,  build  a  ship,  leave  your  habitation, 
look  out  for  your  life ! 

The  seed  of  life  will  be  destroyed,  but  thou,  cause  thou 
to  live ! 

Cause  to  go  up  the  seed  of  life,  all  of  it,  to  the  midst  of 
the  ship. 

The  ship  which  thou  shalt  build,  140  cubits  shall  be  the 
length  of  her  measure; 

140  cubits  shall  be  the  proportion  of  her  width  and  her 
height. 

Against  the  ocean  thou  shalt  cover  it  with  a  deck. ' 

1  knew,  and  spoke  to  Ea,  my  Lord :  'That  which  thou,  my 
Lord,  commandest,  I  will  honor,  I  will  fulfill  it ! 

But  what  shall  I  answer  to  the  city,  the  people  and  the 
Elders?' 

The  people  and  the  Elders  shall  laugh  at  me. 

Ea  his  mouth  opened  and  said,  speaking  to  me,  his  serv- 
ant: 

'Thus  shalt  thou  speak  to  them:    Because  Bel  hath  re- 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  211 

jected  me,  and  hatetli  me  I  will  not  live  in  your  city.  On 
Bel's  earth.  I  will  no  longer  tarry.  ...  On  the  ocean,  with 
Ea,  my  Lord,  I  shall  be  sitting. 

Upon  you  he  will  cause  to  rain  evil,  and  will  make  you 
the  food  of  fishes.  ...  In  the  night  he  will  cause  misfor- 
tune to  rain  from  the  face  of  heaven.' 

Enter  through  the  door  of  the  ship  and  bring 

Into  its  midst  thy  store  of  grain,  thy  goods  and  posses- 
sions. 

Thy  family,  thy  servants,  and  maids,  and  relations ; 

The  beast  of  the  field,  the  wild  beast  of  the  field,  all  I 
will  gather, 

And  send  to  thee,  and  they  shall  be  enclosed  within  thy 
door.'" 

Compare  with  this  document  of  hoary  antiquity  the  still 
more  ancient  words  of  the  Sacred  Text:  "I  will  destroy 
man,  whom  I  have  created,  from  the  faces  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 
And  God  said  unto  Noah,  The  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  be- 
fore me.  Make  thee  an  ark  of  gopher  wood;  rooms  thou 
shalt  make  in  the  ark,  and  thou  shalt  pitch  it  within  and 
without  with  pitch.  And  thus  thou  shalt  make  it:  the 
length  of  the  ark  shall  be  three  hundred  cubits,  the  breadth 
of  it  fifty  cubits,  and  the  height  of  it  thirty  cubits.  A  win- 
dow thou  shalt  make  to  the  ark,  and  the  door  of  the  ark 
shalt  thou  set  in  the  side  thereof;  with  lower,  second,  and 
third  stories  shalt  thou  make  it.  And  behold,  I,  even  I, 
do  bring  a  flood  of  waters  upon  the  earth,  to  destroy  all 
flesh  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life  from  under  heaven ;  and 
everything  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die.  But  with  thee  I 
will  establish  my  covenant;  and  thou  shalt  come  into  the 
ark,  thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  wife,  and  thy  sons' 
wives  with  thee.  And  of  every  living  thing  of  all 
flesh,  two  of  every  kind  shalt  thou  bring  into  the  ark, 
to  keep  alive  with  thee.  .  .  .  And  take  thou  unto  thee  of 
all  food  that  is  eaten,  and  thou  shalt  gather  it  to  thee; 
and  it  shall  be  for  food  for  thee,  and  for  them."  (Genesis 
6:7-21.) 

We  will  now  resume  the  Assyro-Chaldean  narrative. 


212  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

[Second  Column.] 

"...     my  needed  things  I  brought 

In  the  fifth  day  I  constructed  its  frame. 

One  hundred  and  forty  cubits  high  were  its  walls. 

One  hundred  and  forty  cubits  broad  was  its  roof. 

I  placed  its  walls ;  I  enclosed  it. 

I  built  it  in  six  stories  [  1  ] 

I  divided  it  into  seven  compartments; 

Its  interior  I  divided  into  nine  chambers. 

With  water-pegs  on  the  inside  I  caulked  it: 

I  make  a  rudder,  and  raised  a  mast. 

Three  measures  of  pitch  I  smeared  upon  the  outside; 
three  measures  of  pitch  I  smeared  upon  the  inside. 

Three  men  carr^^ng  vessels  which  contained  oil,  ...  oil 
which  they  ate  and  used  for  libation ; 

Two  measures  of  oil  I  distributed  to  the  boatmen. 

To  the  great  gods  I  sacrificed  oxen  and  lambs  daily ; 

Honey,  must,  oil,  and  wine  I  poured  out  without  measure, 
as  the  measure  of  a  flood,  as  the  dust  of  the  earth. 

.  .  .  Shamash,  the  great,  was  pleased  that  the  ship  was 
completed. 

.  .  .  the  oars  of  the  ship  I  caused  to  bring  above  and  be- 
low. 

.  .  .  two-thirds  of  it,  whatever  I  had  gathered,  whatever 
I  had  of  silver  I  gathered  it,  whatever  I  had  of  gold. 

Whatever  I  had,  the  strength  of  it,  the  seed  of  life,  aU 
of  it, 

I  caused  to  go  up  into  the  ship,  all  my  family  male  and 
female ; 

The  cattle  of  the  field,  the  animals  of  the  field,  workmen, 
all  of  them,  I  brought  up. 

A  stated  time  Shamash  had  fixed. 

A  voice  spake :  '  In  the  night  I  will  cause  the  heavens  to 
rain  misfortune. 

Enter  into  the  midst  of  the  ship,  and  close  thy  door.' 

The  stated  time  drew  near;  the  fixed  command  grew 
stronger. 

...  'In  the  night  I  will  cause  the  heavens  to  rain 
calamity. ' 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FLOOD.  213 

I  looked  out  upon  the  faces  of  the  day.  In  that  day  I 
had  fear  to  go  to  sea. 

I  entered  into  the  midst  of  the  ship  and  closed  my  door, 
in  order  to  close  the  ship. 

To  Buzursadirabu,  the  pilot,  the  great  building  I  deliv- 
ered, together  with  its  freight. 

The  raging  of  a  storm  in  the  morning  arose,  from  the 
horizon  of  the  sky,  black  clouds. 

Eammanu  thundered  in  the  midst  of  it.  Nebo  and  Sheru 
broke  forth  against  one  another. 

The  throne-bearers  went  forth  over  mountains  and  plains. 

Nergal  let  loose  the  whirlwinds. 

Ninib  continually  made  the  canals  to  overflow. 

The  Annunaki  lifted  up  their  torches;  they  lit  up  the 
land  with  them. 

Eammanu  's  wild  flood  roared  up  against  heaven. 

All  light  was  drowned  in  darkness." 

For  a  just  appreciation  of  the  above,  as  well  as  of  what 
is  yet  to  follow,  we  must  ask  our  readers  to  peruse  the  whole 
story  of  the  Flood  as  given  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  chap- 
ters of  Genesis. 

[The  Reverse.] 

"The  face  of  the  earth  like  a  devastation  it  swept. 

It  destroyed  all  life  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  waters  rose  above  the  mountains, 

As  a  storm  of  battle  they  broke  lose  upon  men. 

Brother  looked  no  more  for  brother,  men  were  not  recog- 
nized in  Heaven. 

The  gods  feared  the  tempest  and  sought  refuge.  They 
ascended  to  the  heaven  of  Anu. 

As  a  dog  in  his  kennel,  so  the  gods  crouched  at  the  gate 
of  heaven. 

Ishtar  cried  as  one  in  labor ;  the  bright  goddess  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  [saying:] 

'  Oh,  that  the  former  day  had  been  turned  to  clay. 

When  I  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods  advised  this  evil ! 


214  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

Yea,  when  I  ordered  the  tempest  for  the  destruction  of 
my  people. 

I  truly  will  give  birth  to  my  people  again,  and 

Like  a  fish-brood  will  I  fill  the  sea. ' 

The  gods  of  the  Annunaki  wept  with  her ; 

The  gods  were  downcast;  they  sat  weeping; 

Closed  were  their  lips.  .  .  . 

Six  days  and  seven  nights  the  wind,  the  flood  and  the 
storm  continued  in  power. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  day  the  storm  abated,  the 
flood  which  had  fought  a  battle  like  a  mighty  army  became 
peaceful. 

The  sea  fell,  and  the  storm  and  the  flood  ceased. 

I  sailed  through  the  sea  lamenting  that  the  dwellings  of 
mankind  had  been  turned  into  slime. 

Like  tree-trunks  the  bodies  floated  about. 

I  opened  the  window,  and  as  the  day-light  fell  upon  my 
face, 

I  trembled  and  sat  down  weeping.  Tears  flowed  over  my 
face. 

I  sailed  through  the  landscape,  now  a  terrible  sea. 

Then  appeared  a  land,  twelve  measures  high. 

To  the  land  Nizir  [Armenia]  the  ship  I  steered. 

The  mountain  of  the  land  Nizir  held  the  ship  fast,  and  let 
it  not  loose.  .  .  . 

Six  days  the  mount  Nizir  held  the  ship  fast.  At  the 
break  of  the  seventh  day 

I  brought  out  a  dove  and  let  her  fly. 

The  dove  flew  hither  and  thither,  but  when  there  was  no 
resting  place  for  her,  she  flew  back  to  me. 

Then  I  let  loose  a  swallow  and  let  her  fly. 

The  swallow  flew  hither  and  thither,  but  when  there  was 
no  resting  place  for  her  she  returned  to  me. 

Then  I  put  forth  a  raven  and  let  him  fly. 

The  raven  flew  hither  and  thither,  and  when  he  saw  that 
the  waters  were  fallen,  he  croaked  and  he  did  not  return. 

Then  I  sent  all  the  beasts  in  the  ship  to  the  four  winds. 
I  offered  a  libation. 

I  erected  an  altar  on  the  top  of  the  mountain. ' ' 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FLOOD.  215 

The  rest  of  the  story  describes  how  the  gods  ''swarmed 
like  flies  to  the  sacrifice,"  and  ends  with  Ea  reproving  Bel 
for  having  sent  the  flood  without  taking  counsel  with  the 
other  gods.  Evil  doers  should  be  punished  in  various  ways, 
but  the  whole  of  mankind  must  never  again  be  cut  off  by  a 
universal  deluge. 

The  story  of  the  Flood,  in  its  internal  sense,  describes 
the  vastation  of "  the  Most  Ancient  Church,  and  also  the 
temptations  of  the  Ancient  Church  at  its  beginning.  Hence 
in  the  Biblical  account  it  is  said  that  the  Flood  lasted 
' '  forty  days, ' '  the  number  forty  always  signifying  tempta- 
tions. In  the  Babylonian  narrative  the  Flood  lasted  six 
days,  and  by  "six"  is  signified  combat.  In  the  internal 
sense  the  two  stories  present  a  greater  agreement  than  ap- 
pears in  the  letter,  though  here  also  the  harmony  is  most 
remarkable.  In  the  Word  we  read  that  ''the  ark  rested  in 
the  seventh  month."  In  the  Babylonian  story  the  flood 
abated  at  ' '  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  day. ' ' 

But  there  are  also  many  features  of  dissimilitude.  In 
the  Babylonian  account,  for  instance,  we  are  told  that 
Shamashnapishtim,  or  Noah,  expressed  the  fear  that  the 
people  would  laugh  at  him,  when  building  the  vessel, — a 
statement  which  is  absent  from  the  Biblical  story.  It  is 
remarkable,  however,  to  find  the  same  feature  in  the  Arabic 
legend  of  Noah,  as  told  in  the  Koran,  where,  in  the  chapter 
entitled  "Hud,"  we  read  that,  "Whilst  Noah  was  build- 
ing his  ark,  all  those  who  passed  by  mocked  him;  but  he 
said  to  them:  Though  you  rail  at  me  now,  the  time  will 
come  when  I  shall  rail  at  you ;  for  you  will  learn  to  your 
cost  who  it  is  that  punishes  the  wicked  in  this  world  and 
reserves  for  them  a  further  punishment  in  the  world  to 
come." 

Another  remarkable  difference  between  the  two  stories  is 
in  the  account  of  the  birds  that  were  sent  out  of  the  Ark. 
In  the  Word  it  is  the  raven  that  is  sent  out  first,  by  which 
is  signified,  in  the  internal  sense,  "that  falsities  still  occa- 
sioned disturbance"  (A.  C.  864),  as  they  naturally  would 
in  the  beginning  of  a  new  Church.  In  the  Babylonian 
story  the  raven  flies  out  last,  which  shows  that  this  text  is 


216  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

a  later  and  corrupted  version,  because  in  this  particular 
it  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  internal  sense.  Thus  it  is 
by  the  internal  sense,  which  is  also  the  rational  sense,  that 
we  are  able  to  judge  as  to  the  relative  antiquity  and  authen- 
ticity of  these  ancient  documents,  in  their  relation  to  the 
original  and  inspired  Word  of  the  Ancient  Church.  The 
' '  higher  critics ' '  do  not  possess  this  infallible  touch-stone  of 
criticism,  and  so,  in  their  negative  spirit,  they  at  once  jump 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  Hebrew  documents  are  corrupted 
versions  of  the  Babylonian  text. 

An  Egyptian  Legend. 

In  Egypt,  contrary^  to  what  might  have  been  expected, 
no  account  of  the  Deluge  has  been  as  yet  discovered,  bear- 
ing and  striking  resemblance  to  the  storj^  in  the  Word. 
There  is,  however,  a  mutilated  inscription  on  the  walls  of 
the  tombs  of  Seti  I  and  Rameses  IV,  at  Thebes,  describing 
a  general,  though  not  universal,  destruction  of  mankind, 
which  may  refer  to  the  destruction  of  the  Nephilim.  It  be- 
gins by  stating  that  men  and  women  were  blaspheming  the 
god  Ra,  saying:  "Behold,  his  majesty  has  grown  old  in 
life,  strength  and  health ;  his  bones  are  like  silver,  his  limbs 
like  gold,  his  hair  like  lapis-lazuli. "  His  majesty,  when 
listening  to  these  words,  called  a  council  of  the  gods  and 
laid  before  them  the  murmuring  of  the  people  who  had 
been  created  from  his  eyes,  and  asked  for  advice  what  to 
do.  Nu,  the  god  of  the  primeval  ocean,  and  the  other 
gods,  suggested  to  Ra  that  he  let  his  ''eye  go  forth,  and 
let  it  destroy  for  thee  those  who  utter  evil  words  of  blas- 
phemy against  thee.  There  is  not  an  eye  upon  all  the  earth 
that  can  resist  thee,  when  it  descendeth  in  the  form  of 
Hathor."  The  goddess  therefore  went  forth  and  "slew 
mankind  on  the  mountains."  His  majesty  then,  repent- 
ing, said  :"Come,  come  in  peace,  Hathor,  for  the  deed  is 
done. ' '  But  the  goddess  replied,  ' '  Thou  gavest  me  life.  It 
was  pleasing  to  me  when  I  had  power  over  mankind,"  and 
she  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  stop  her  slaughter  until 
Ra  brewed  seven  thousand  vessels  of  beer,  which  he  caused 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  217 

to  be  poured  out  upon  the  fields  of  heaven.  Hathor  drank 
joyfully  of  it  to  such  an  extent  that  "she  no  longer  knew 
mankind, ' '  but  went  to  sleep  murmuring :  "  I  slew  them,  but 
there  is  a  remnant  of  the  worthless,  for  the  destruction 
was  not  as  wide-spread  as  my  power."  (Wallis  Budge, 
The  Gods  of  the  Egyptians,  Vol.  I,  pp.  388-399.)  A  gro- 
tesque story,  but  the  only  one  at  hand  from  Egypt! 

The  Greek  Traditions. 

The  Greeks  had  two  different  traditions  as  to  the  Deluge. 
With  the  first  was  connected  the  name  of  Ogyges,  the  first 
king  of  Attica,  an  entirely  mythical  personage  who  is  lost 
in  the  mist  of  ages;  his  name,  even,  is  derived  from  the 
primitive  designation  of  the  ''deluge"  (Sancrit  augha). 
It  was  reported  that  in  his  time  all  the  country  was  cov- 
ered by  the  deluge,  and  that  the  waters  reached  even  to  the 
heavens,  and  that  he  escaped  in  a  vessel  with  some  com- 
panions.    (Lenormant,  Anc.  Hist,  of  the  East,  ii,  p.  19.) 

The  more  common  tradition  is  that  of  Deukalion,  of 
whom  there  are  many  and  different  accounts.  Lucian,  in 
his  work,  De  Dea  Syria,  relates  it  thus : 

''This  is  the  story  of  Deukalion  that  I  have  heard  in 
Greece.  The  present  race  of  men  is  not  the  first,  for  that 
perished.  This  is  the  second  race,  and  it  sprang  from 
Deukalion.  The  earlier  generation  was  very  evil,  and 
violated  the  Divine  law.  They  neither  kept  oaths  nor 
showed  hospitality;  they  received  not  the  stranger,  nor 
protected  him  when  he  sought  protection;  therefore,  a  ter- 
rible destruction  fell  upon  them.  Much  water  gushed  out 
of  the  earth,  great  rains  poured  down,  and  the  sea  rose 
and  overwhelmed  the  earth.  Deukalion  alone  of  all  men 
was  preserved  for  another  generation  on  account  of  his 
wisdom  and  piety.  He  was  saved  thus:  he  went  into  a 
great  ark  which  he  had  built,  along  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren. Then  came  to  him,  pair  by  pair,  cows,  horses,  lions, 
serpents,  and  all  kinds  of  animals  which  are  nourished  on 
earth,  and  he  took  them  all  in.  They  did  not  hurt  him, 
for  Zeus  ordained  a  great  friendship  amongst  them.     So 


218  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

they  all  sailed  in  the  ark  as  long  as  the  flood  lasted.  This 
is  the  Greek  story  of  Deukalion. 

"But  very  wonderful  in  the  confirmation  of  the  history 
as  related  in  Hieropolis.  In  the  neighborhood  of  that  city 
a  great  chasm  opened,  which  engulfed  all  the  waters  of  the 
Flood.  Thereupon  Deukalion  erected  altars,  and  dedicated 
a  temple  to  Here  (Atergatis)  over  the  chasm.  I  have  seen 
this." 

According  to  other  versions,  Deukalion  was  the  grand- 
son of  Japetos  and  the  son  of  Prometheus,  of  the  race  of 
the  Titans,  and  the  son  of  Deukalion  was  Hellen,  the  an- 
cestors of  the  Hellenic  race.  Deukalion  is  simply  another 
name  for  Noah,  whose  descendants  were  Japheth,  Javan, 
Elishah,  etc.,  by  whom  "the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  were  di- 
vided in  their  lands."  (Gen.  10:1-5.)  It  is  clear  that 
remnants  of  these  Hebrews  names  are  preserved  in  the 
Greek  Japetos,  Ion,  Hellas,  Eolus  and  Elis.  Apollodorus 
tells  us  the  following  story : 

"Deukalion  was  married  to  Pyrrha,  the  daughter  of 
Epimetheus  and  Pandora.  When  Jupiter  designed  to  de- 
stroy the  human  race  on  account  of  their  impiety,  Deuka- 
lion, by  the  advice  of  his  father,  made  himself  an  ark, 
{larnalca),  and,  putting  provisions  into  it,  entered  it  with 
his  wife  Pyrrha.  Jupiter  then  poured  rain  from  heaven, 
and  inundated  the  greater  part  of  Greece,  so  that  all  the 
people,  except  a  few  who  escaped  to  the  lofty  mountains, 
perished  in  the  waves.  Deukalion  was  carried  along  the 
sea  in  his  ark  for  nine  days  and  nights,  until  he  reached 
mount  Parnassus.  By  this  time  the  rain  had  ceased,  and 
then,  leaving  his  ark,  he  sacrificed  to  Jupiter,  who  sent 
Hermes,  desiring  him  to  ask  what  he  would.  His  request 
was  to  have  the  earth  replenished  with  men.  By  the  direc- 
tion of  Jupiter,  thereupon,  he  and  his  wife  flung  stones 
behind  them,  and  those  which  Deukalion  cast  became  men, 
those  thrown  by  Pyrrha,  women.  And  from  this  circum- 
stance came  the  name  for  "people,"  (laos,  from  laas,  "a 
stone"). 

Plutarch  adds  that  "the  mythologists  inform  us  that  a 
dove,  being  allowed  to  fly  out  of  the  ark,  was  to  Deukalion 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FLOOD.  219 

a  sign  of  bad  weather  if  it  came  again ;  but  of  good  weather 
if  it  flew  away." 

The  Latin  Fable. 

The  account  in  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  though  preserv- 
ing the  general  outlines  of  the  Greek  stories,  is  more  elabo- 
rate and  poetical,  and  yet  preserves  many  features  closely 
resembling  the  Divine  original.  Having  described  the 
glorious  things  of  the  Golden  and  Silver  Ages,  the  increas- 
ing wickedness  of  the  Brazen  Age,  and  the  horrible  degra- 
dation of  the  Iron  Age,  Ovid  ends  his  fourth  fable  with 
the  words  ''Piety  lies  vanquished,  and  the  virgin  Astraga 
[the  goddess  of  Justice],  is  the  last  of  the  celestial  beings 
to  abandon  the  earth,  now  drenched  in  slaughter." 

In  the  fifth  fable  the  poet  describes  how  the  Giants  [the 
Nephilim],  aspiring  to  the  sovereignty  of  heaven  itself, 
piled  mountain  upon  mountain,  even  to  the  lofty  stars." 
But  the  omnipotent  Father,  hurling  his  lightnings  from 
Olympus,  struck  Pelion  from  Ossa,  and  destroyed  the 
monstrous  race.  Nevertheless,  from  the  blood  of  their  car- 
casses, there  sprang  into  life  another  ruthless  race,  despis- 
ing the  gods  above,  and  full  of  violence  and  greed.  Then, 
in  the  sixth  fable,  Jupiter,  beholding  the  crimes  of  men, 
''groaned  aloud"  and  called  a  council  of  all  the  gods,  to 
whom,  in  the  next  fable,  he  recounts  the  horrible  crime  of 
Lycaon,  the  treacherous  host  who  had  set  before  the  visit- 
ing god  a  meal  of  human  flesh;  Lyacon  was  changed  into 
a  ferocious  wolf,  but  the  rest  of  mankind  was  as  bad  as  he. 
"Wherever  the  earth  extends  the  Furies  reign.  You  would 
suppose  that  men  had  conspired  to  be  wicked."  Compare 
the  Divine  words:  "And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and 
behold,  it  was  corrupt,  and  the  earth  was  filled  with  vio- 
lence." Hence  Jupiter  announced  "Let  all  men  speedily 
feel  that  vengeance  which  they  deserve  to  endure,  for  such 
is  my  decree. ' ' 

At  first  the  thunderer  was  disposed  to  destroy  the  earth 
with  his  lightnings,  but  he  laid  aside  his  cyclopean  weapons 
when  remembering  that  ' '  it  was  in  the  decrees  of  Fate  that 


220  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.      ' 

a  time  should  come,  at  which  the  sea,  the  earth,  and  the 
palace  of  heaven,  seized  by  flames,  should  be  burned  with 
fire."  This  passage  in  Ovid  is  most  remarkable,  as  indi- 
cating tha  the  Romans  possessed  a  prophecy  of  a  Last 
Judgment,  similar  to  the  Scandinavian  Ragnarok,  "the 
twilight  of  the  gods,"  when  heaven  and  earth  were  to  per- 
ish in  a  universal  conflagration,  to  be  succeeded  by  "  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth."  This  passage  has  generally 
passed  unnoticed  by  writers  on  Comparative  Mythology, 
but  is  not  isolated  in  classic  literature.  Lactantius  informs 
us  that  the  Sibyls  predicted  that  the  world  should  perish 
by  fire.  Seneca,  also,  mentions  the  same  destined  end  of 
the  present  state  of  the  universe,  and  it  was  a  tenet  of  the 
Stoic  philosophers  that  when  the  stars  should  cease  to  be 
nurtured  with  moisture,  a  conflagration  of  the  universe 
would  ensue. 

Not  yet  was  the  time  for  the  final  and  fiery  judment,  to 
which  Aeschylus  also  alludes  in  ' '  Prometheus  Bound, ' '  when 
Jupiter  himself  was  to  be  dethroned,  and  suffering  man- 
kind was  to  be  redeemed  by  the  coming  Hercules.  An- 
other punishment  was  determined  upon  at  this,  the  first 
general  judgment.  The  south  wind  was  let  loose,  "with 
soaking  wings  flying  abroad,  having  his  terrible  face  cov- 
ered with  pitchy  darkness.  As  with  his  broad  hand  he 
squeezes  the  hanging  clouds,  a  crash  arises,  and  showers 
are  poured  in  torrents  from  the  sky."  Neptune  aids  his 
brother  with  auxiliary  waves  from  beneath,  and  commands 
the  streams  to  "open  the  mouths  of  their  fountains."  As 
stated  in  Genesis,  "All  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  broken  up,  and  the  cataracts  of  heaven  were  opened. '  * 

A  universal  destruction  followed,  and  no  men  were  saved, 
with  the  exception  of  Deukalion  and  his  wife  who  were  car- 
ried to  the  top  of  Mount  Parnassus  in  a  little  ship.  "No 
man  was  more  upright  than  he,  nor  a  greater  lover  of  jus- 
tice; nor  was  any  woman  more  regardful  of  the  Deities 
than  she."  Or,  as  stated  in  the  Word,  "Noah  was  a  just 
man  and  perfect  in  his  generations,  and  Noah  walked  with 
God."     (Gen.  6:9.) 

Deukalion   having   landed   and   offered  worship   to  the 


LEGENDS  OF  TEE  FLOOD.  221 

gods,  Jupiter  ' '  disperses  the  clouds ;  and,  the  showers  being 
removed  by  the  north  wind,  he  both  lays  open  the  earth 
to  the  heavens,  and  the  heavens  to  the  earth.  Also,  the 
rage  of  the  sea  does  not  continue," — words  which  are  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  those  in  the  Bible :  ' '  God  made  a  wind 
to  pass  over  the  earth,  and  the  waters  were  assuaged.  The 
fountains  also  of  the  deep  and  the  cataracts  of  heaven  were 
stopped."       (Gen.  8:1,  2.) 

Deukalion  and  Pyrrha,  bemoaning  their  loneliness  upon 
the  desolated  earth,  were  told  by  the  goddess  Themis  to 
''throw  behind  your  backs  the  bones  of  your  great  mother." 
They  were  at  first  greatly  amazed  at  this  seemingly  impious 
command,  but  Deukalion  finally  concluded  that  by  the 
bones  of  the  great  mother  must  be  meant  the  stones  of  the 
earth.  They  acted  upon  this  interpretation,  and  "by  the 
interposition  of  the  gods  above,  the  stones  thrown  by  the 
hands  of  the  man  took  the  shape  of  a  man,  and  the  female 
race  was  renewed  by  the  throwing  of  the  w^oman."  (Meta- 
morphoses, Fable  x.) 

We  would  suggest,  as  a  possible  interpretation  of  this 
remarkable  myth,  that  the  "bones  of  the  great  mother" 
which  Deukalion  and  Pyrrha  were  to  cast  behind  their  backs, 
signify  the  falsities  of  the  former  Church,  which  the  men  of 
the  new  Church,  Noah,  were  to  reject.  Only  by  such  action 
could  a  new^  Church  be  established,  and  only  thus  could  the 
dead  stones  of  false  and  natural  thoughts  and  affections  be 
replaced  by  spiritual  and  truly  human  truths  and  goods. 

The  Scandinavian  Story. 

In  the  Eddas  there  is  but  a  single  allusion  to  the  Flood. 
When  Odhin  and  his  two  brothers  had  slain  Ymir,  there 
ran  so  much  blood  out  of  his  wounds  that  with  it  they 
drowned  all  the  race  of  the  ' '  Frost-giants, ' '  save  one  who 
got  away  with  his  household ;  him  the  giants  call  Bergelmer, 
He  went  on  board  his  boat,  and  with  him  went  his  wife, 
and  from  them  came  a  new  race  of  frost-giants. 

This  legend,  though  somewhat  obscure,  embodies  the  idea 
of  the  profanations  of  the  Antediluvians,  (the  "blood"  of 


222  THE  GOLDEN  AGE.      ' 

Ymir)  and  also  the  fact  that  Noah  and  his  descendants  were 
of  the  stock  of  the  Nephilim,  that  is,  men  of  a  fallen  race. 

A  Welsh  Legend. 

The  following  has  been  preserved  among  the  Welsh,  who 
tenaciously  retained  the  traditions  of  their  Celtic  fathers: 

"One  of  the  most  dreadful  of  events  was  the  outbreak 
of  Llyn  Llion,  the  sea  of  seas,  which  overwhelmed  the 
world  and  droAvned  all  men  except  Dwyan  and  Dwyach, 
who  escaped  in  a  bare  boat,  and  colonized  Britain.  This 
ship  was  one  of  the  three  masterpieces  of  Hu,  and  was 
built  by  the  heavenly  lord,  Eeivon;  and  it  received  into 
it  a  pair  of  every  kind  of  beast,  when  the  Llyn  Llion  burst 
forth. 

' '  Reivon  is  the  same  as  Hu  Cadarn,  the  discoverer  of  the 
vine ;  and  it  is  said  of  him  that  "he  built  the  ark  laden  with 
fruit,  and  it  was  stayed  up  in  the  water,  and  carried  for- 
ward by  serpents."  And  of  the  rainbow  it  was  said  that 
the  Woman  of  the  silver  wheel,  Arianrhod,  to  control  the 
wizards  of  the  night  and  the  evil  spirits  of  the  tempest, 
and  out  of  love  for  the  Britons,  "wove  the  stream  of  the 
rainbow, — a  stream  which  drives  the  storm  from  the  earth, 
and  makes  its  former  destruction  stay  far  from  it,  through- 
out the  world's  circle. "  (Davis,  Mythology  of  the  British 
Druids.  ) 

We  have  here  a  recollection  of  Noah  as  the  planter  of  a 
vineyard,  the  founder  of  a  spiritual,  not  a  celestial  Church, 
and  of  the  Bow  in  the  clouds,  the  doctrine  revealed  to  the 
Ancient  Church.  The  "woman  of  the  silver  wheel"  is  a 
beautiful  representative  of  the  Church  of  the  Silver  Age, 
the  dominant  love  of  which  was  the  affection  of  truth,  the 
affection  of  spiritual-rational  Doctrine. 

A  Lithuanian  Legend. 

Among  the  Lithuanians,  who,  of  all  Indo-European 
races,  are  said  to  retain  most  closely  the  language  and  tra- 
ditions of  their  Sankrit-speaking  ancestors,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing quaint  myth: 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  223 

-When  Pramzimas,  the  most  high  God,  looked  out  of  his 
heavenly  house  upon  the  world  through  a  window,  he  saw 
that  it  was  filled  with  violence.  Then  he  sent  Wind  and 
Water  to  devastate  the  earth,  and  this  they  did  for  twenty 
days  and  twenty  nights.  Pramzimas  looked  on,  and  as  he 
looked  on,  he  ate  nuts  at  his  window,  and  threw  the  shells 
down  One  shell  fell  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  and  some 
men,  women  and  beasts  scrambled  into  it,  and  were  saved 
alive,  while  all  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  were 

^- When  the  flood  drained  away,  the  pairs  in  the  nutshell 
left  it,  and  were  scattered  over  the  earth.  Only  one  aged 
couple  remained,  and  they  complained.  Then  God  sent 
them  the  rainbow  to  console  them,  and  bade  them  3nmp 
over  the  bones  of  the  earth.  They  jumped  nine  times,  and 
nine  pairs  of  living  human  beings  started  to  life,  and 
founded  the  nine  races  of  Lithuanian  blood.  (Grimm, 
Deutsche  Mythologie,  p.  545.)  .     .  -i  •     i 

This  story,  from  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  is  strikingly 
similar  to  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  nutshell- feature  is  amusing,  but  may 
it  not,  nevertheless,  be  representative^  May  not  the  nut- 
shell cast  down  from  heaven,  represent  the  Dmne  Reve- 
lation which  was  given  to  the  Ancient  Church  m  an  6a;- 
ternal  and  literal  form^  This  new  revelation,  the  Ancient 
Word,  was  really  that  ark  which  saved  Noah  from  the  de- 
struction of  the  Deluge. 

Persian  Legends. 

The  Zoroastrian  Bundahish  thus  relates  the  story  of  the 
Fall  and  the  Flood : 

'^Man  was,  the  father  of  the  world  was.  Heaven  was 
his  destiny,  on  condition  that  he  should  be  humble  of  heart, 
that  he  should  do  the  work  of  the  law,  that  he  should  be 
pure  in  his  thoughts,  pure  in  his  words,  pure  m  his  actions 
and  that  he  should  not  invoke  the  Devs  [evil  spirits]  At 
first  they  said  these  words:  'Ormuzd  [the  good  God],  has 
given  us  water,  the  earth,  the  trees,  the  animals,  the  stars, 


224  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

the  moon,  the  sun,  and  all  good  things  that  come  from  a 
pure  root  and  bear  pure  fruit.' 

"Then  the  Lie  entered  their  thoughts,  altered  their  dis- 
positions, and  said  to  them:  'It  is  Ahriman  [the  evil 
power],  who  has  given  water,  the  earth,  the  trees,  animals, 
and  all  that  has  been  mentioned. '  Thus  it  was  that  in  the 
beginning  Ahriman  deceived  them  with  regard  to  the  Devs, 
and  to  this  end,  only,  the  evil  one  has  sought  to  seduce 
them.  By  believing  this  lie  they  both  became  Darvands, 
and  their  souls  will  be  in  the  infernal  regions  until  the 
resurrection.  The  Dev  who  told  this  lie  became  more  bold, 
presented  himself  a  second  time,  and  brought  them  fruits, 
which  they  ate,  and,  in  consequence,  of  all  the  innumerable 
advantages  they  enjoyed,  there  remained  only  one." 
(BUNDAHISCH  i,  p.  10.) 

This  "only  one,"  perhaps,  refers  to  the  "Hope"  that 
remained  in  the  box  of  Pandora, — the  Hope  of  a  future 
Redeemer. 

"After  the  Fall,  the  man  and  the  woman  'first  covered 
themselves  with  the  skins  of  dogs,  and  ate  the  flesh  of  these 
animals.  Then  they  hunted  and  made  themselves  clothing 
of  the  skins  of  deer. '  Ahriman  is  represented  as  a  poison- 
ous serpent,  and  springs  in  this  form  from  heaven  to  earth. " 
(Kleuker's  Zend  Avesta,  part  3,  pp.  84,  85.) 

As  to  the  Flood  we  find  this  tradition : 

Tascher  (the  spirit  ruling  the  waters),  found  water  for 
thirty  days  and  thirty  nights  upon  the  earth.  Every  water- 
drop  was  as  big  as  a  bowl.  The  earth  was  covered  with 
water  the  height  of  a  man.  All  idolaters  on  earth  died 
through  the  rain;  it  penetrated  all  openings.  Afterwards 
a  wind  from  heaven  divided  the  water  and  carried  it  away 
on  clouds  as  souls  bear  bodies;  then  Ormuzd  collected  all 
the  water  together  and  placed  it  as  a  boundary  to  the  earth, 
and  thus  was  the  great  ocean  formed.     (Bundahisch,  7.) 

A  Hindu  Tradition. 

The  ancient  Hindu  tradition  is,  that  in  the  reign  of  the 
sunbom  monarch  Satyavrata,  the  whole  earth  was  dro^^Tied, 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  225 

and  the  whole  human  race  was  destroyed  by  a  flood,  except 
X  pious  prince  himself,  the  seven  Rishis,  and  their  se vera 
wives  This  general  prdaya,  or  destruction,  is  the  subject 
^f  the  first  rurana,  or  sacred  poem;  and  the  story  is  con- 
cisely  told  in  the  eighth  book  of  the  Bhagavata,  from  which 
the  following  is  an  abridged  extract: 

"The  demon  Hayagriva  having  purloined  the  Vcdas  [ tl  t 
sacred  Sancrit  volumes]  from  Brahma  while  the  latter  wa. 
repcSng,  the  whole  race  of  man  became  corrxipt    except 
the  Eishis  and  Satyavrata.     This  prince  was  performing 
his  ab  utions  in  the  river  Critamala,  when  Vishnu  appeared 
to  htti  the  shape  of  a  small  fish,  and  thus  addressed  his 
amazed  votary:  'In  seven  days  all  creatures  who  have  ot- 
r/ed  me.  sMl  be  destroyed  by  a  deluge ;  but  thcnishaU 
be    secured   in    a   capacious   vessel   miraculously    foimeci 
Take   therefore,  all  kinds  of  medicinal  herbs  and  esculent 
grain  for  food    and.  together  with  the  seven  holy  men 
your  respective  wives,  and  pairs  of  all  anima  s,  enter  the 
ark  without  fear:  then  shnlt  thou  know  God  face  to    ace 
and  all  thy  questions  shall  be  answered.'     Saymg  this,  he 
disapneared;   and.   after  seven  days,  the  ocean  began  to 
overflow  the  coasts,  and  the  earth  to  be  flooded  by  constant 
showers,  when  Satyavrata,  meditating  on  the  Deity,  saw  a 
large  vessel  moving  on  the  waters:  he  entered  it,  having 
in   all   respects  conformed  to  the  instructions  of  Vishnu, 
who   in  the  form  of  a  large  fish,  suffered  the  vessel  to  be 
tied  with  a  great  sea-serpent,  as  with  a  cable,  to  his  meas- 
ureless horn.     When  the  deluge  had  ceased,  Vishnu  slew 
the  demon  and  recovered  the  Vedm,  and  Instructed  Satyav- 
rata in  Divine  knowledge."     (On  the  Chronology  of  the 
Hindus,  by  Sir  W.  Jones,  in  Asiatic  Rese.^rctes  n.  p.  lib.) 
The  "fish  "  it  will  be  remembered,  signifies  knowledge, 
truth' stored  in  the  memory,  which  is  the  first  means  of 
salvation,  for  men  must  learn  the  truth  before  they  can 
live  according  to  it. 

Chinese  Legends. 
In  China  the  legends  of  the  Fall  and  the  Flood  are  so 
numerous  and  various  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  a  selection. 

15 


226  TEE  GOLDEN  AGE.     ' 

According  to  Chinese  philosophy,  man  is  part  spirit,  part 
animal.  The  spirit  follows  the  laws  of  Heaven,  as  a  dis- 
ciple his  master ;  the  animal,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  slave 
of  sense.  At  his  origin,  man  obeyed  the  heavens;  his  first 
state  was  one  of  innocence  and  happiness ;  he  knew  neither 
disease  nor  death;  he  was  by  instinct  wholly  good  and 
spiritual.  But  the  immoderate  desire  to  be  wise,  or,  accord- 
ing to  Lao-tse,  to  eat,  was  the  ruin  of  mankind.  (Memoires 
Chinois  I,  p.  107.) 

The  Jesuit  M.  Martinius  says  that  the  Chinese  computed 
the  Deluge  to  have  taken  place  4,000  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  Fah-he,  the  reputed  author  of  Chinese 
civilization,  is  said  to  have  escaped  from  the  waters  of  the 
Deluge.  He  reappears  as  the  first  man  at  the  production 
of  a  renovated  world,  attended  by  seven  companions, — 
his  wife,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  by  whose  inter- 
marriage the  whole  circle  of  the  universe  is  finally  com- 
pleted.    (Hardwick's  Christ  and  Other  Masters,  iii,  16.) 

One  extraordinary  Antediluvian  saved  his  life  by  climb- 
ing up  a  mountain,  and  there  and  then,  in  the  manner  of 
a  bird  planting  a  nest,  he  passed  his  days  on  a  tree,  whilst 
all  the  country  below  him  was  one  sheet  of  water.  He  after- 
wards lived  to  a  very  old  age,  and  could  testify  to  his  late 
posterity,  that  a  whole  race  of  human  beings  had  been 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  (The  Chinese  Reposi- 
tory, viii,  p.  517.) 

In  one  of  the  writings  of  the  disciples  of  Lao-tse,  the 
tradition  takes  a  fuller  form.  Kung-Kung,  a  bad  spirit, 
enraged  at  having  been  overcome  in  war,  gave  such  a  blow 
against  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  sky  with  his  head  that 
he  broke  the  pillar;  and  the  vault  of  heaven  fell  in,  and  a 
tremendous  flood  overwhelmed  the  earth.  But  Niu-Noa 
[Noah!]  overcame  the  water  with  wood,  and  made  a  boat 
to  save  himself,  which  could  go  far;  and  he  polished  a 
stone  of  five  colors, — the  rainbow — and  therewith  he  fast- 
ened the  heavens,  and  lifted  them  up  on  a  tortoise  shell. 
Then  he  killed  the  black  dragon,  Kung-Kung,  and  choked 
the  holes  in  heaven  with  the  ashes  of  a  pumpkin.  (Mem. 
concernant  les  Chinoise,  ix,  p.  383.) 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  227 

Another  account,  published  in  the  Philadelphia  North 
American  for  August  30,  1903,  states  that: 

''In  the  fifty-nine  books  of  the  original  100  volumes  of 
the  Historical  Records  of  China,  which  are  all  that  sur- 
vived the  carrying  out  of  the  edict  of  the  Emperor  Che 
Hwangti,  in  221  B.  C,  ordering  the  destruction  of  all  books 
not  relating  to  astrology  and  divination  or  medicine,  there 
may  be  found  a  story  of  the  warning  of  Nuh  that  the  world 
was  to  be  destroyed  by  water.  The  wickedness  of  the  world 
was  the  cause  of  the  flood. 

''In  the  same  manner  that  the  Noah  of  the  Bible  is  said 
to  have  done,  Nuh  heeded  the  warning  and  built  himself  a 
huge  junk  and  coated  it  upon  the  outside  with  pitch.  Into 
the  junk  Nuh  retreated  with  his  wife  and  three  sons.  He 
took  with  him  rice,  millet,  silkworms  and  a  tortoise.  None 
of  the  animals  that  Noah  sheltered  in  the  ark  went  into 
Nuh's  junk. 

"After  many  days  a  stork,  bearing  in  its  mouth  a  sprig 
of  willow,  flew  to  the  junk  and  announced  the  subsidence 
of  the  flood.  The  story  follows  the  narration  of  Noah's  ad- 
ventures particularly  close  in  the  matter  of  the  landing  of 
the  junk.  The  junk  grounded  upon  the  mountain  spelled 
in  the  Chinese  record  "Ay-ahr-at."  The  peak,  which  is  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Thibet,  bears  this  name  at  the  present 
day." 

American  Traditions. 

George  Catlin,  the  eminent  authority  on  the  Aborigenes 
of  America,  says  that  among  one  hundred  and  twenty  dif- 
ferent tribes  that  he  had  visited  in  North,  South  and  Cen- 
tral America,  not  a  tribe  existed  that  had  not  related  to 
him  traditions,  vague  or  distinct,  referring  to  the  great 
Flood.     (Okeepa,  p.  2.) 

Beginning  at  the  extreme  north  we  learn  that  the  Ko- 
losches,  of  Alaska,  say  that  the  first  dweller  on  the  earth 
was  Kitkhughiasi,  and  that  he  resolved  to  destroy  all  his 
children  who  sinned  against  him.  Thereupon  he  brought 
a  flood  over  the  land,  and  all  perished  save  a  few  who 
escaped  in  boats  to  the  tops  of  mountains,  where,  say  they, 


228  ^'^^  GOLDEN  AGE. 

the  remains  of  the  boats,  and  the  ropes  which  fastened  them, 
remained  to  be  seen.  The  same  storj^,  precisely,  is  told  by 
the  closely  allied  race  of  the  Chippewas.  (Atheme  Jones, 
Traditions  op  the  North  American  Indians^  ii,  p.  9.) 

Among  the  Dog-rib  Indians  Sir  John  Franklin  found  a 
very  curious  story  of  the  Deluge;  and  as  this  tribe  lives 
near  the  Polar  Sea,  far  from  any  mission  stations,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  the  story  can  have  been  derived  from 
Christian  teachers. 

''They  say  that  Tshapiwih,  their  great  ancestor,  lived 
on  a  track  between  two  seas.  He  built  a  weir,  and  caught 
fish  in  such  abundance  that  they  choked  the  watercourse, 
and  the  w^ater  overflowed  the  earth.  Tschapiwih  with  his 
family  entered  his  canoe,  and  took  with  him  all  kinds  of 
beasts  and  birds.  The  land  w^as  covered  for  many  days; 
at  last  Tschapiwih  could  bear  it  no  longer,  so  he  sent  out 
the  beaver  to  look  for  the  earth.  But  the  beaver  was 
drowned.  Then  he  sent  out  the  muskrat,  which  had  some 
difficulty  in  returning,  but  it  had  mud  on  its  paws.  Tschap- 
iwih was  glad  to  see  the  earth,  and  moulded  it  between  his 
fingers  till  it  became  an  island  on  the  surface  of  the  waters, 
on  which  he  could  land."  (Lutke,  Voyage  autour  du 
Monde,  i,  p.  19.) 

The  ancient  Mexicans  have  a  myth  of  Xolotl,  making  out 
of  a  bone  the  primeval  mother  in  the  heavenly  Paradise; 
she  was  the  mother  of  twins,  and  is  represented  in  a  Mexi- 
can hieroglyph  as  speaking  with  a  serpent,  whilst  behind 
her  stand  the  twins,  whose  different  characters  are  repre- 
sented by  different  colors,  and  one  of  them  is  represented 
as  slaying  the  other.  Xolotl,  who  made  her  out  of  a  bone, 
was  cast  out  of  heaven,  and  became  the  first  man.  (Hum- 
Ijoldt,  Pittorske  Ansichten  der  Cordilleren^  Plate  XIII, 
and  explanation,  ii,  pp.  41,  42.) 

The  Flood  was  described  by  the  Mexicans  as  follows : 

"There  was  a  great  deluge  which  destroyed  all  men  and 
beasts,  save  Cox-cox  and  his  wife,  Chichequetzal,  w'ho. 
escaped  in  a  tree-trunk  and  landed  on  Mount  Colhuacan, 
where  they  became  parents  of  many  children,  who,  how- 
ever, were  all  dumb.     Then  appeared  a  dove,  which  seated 


LEGENDS  OF  THE  FLOOD.  229 

itself  on  a  high  tree,  and  taught  them  language.  But  as 
none  of  them  understood  the  speech  of  the  other,  they  separ- 
ated and  dispersed  over  the  world."  (Muller,  Geschichte 
DES  Amerikanischen  Ur-religion,  p.  515.) 

The  inhabitants  of  Mechoacan  in  Mexico  related  that,  on 
account  of  the  iniquity  of  men,  a  flood  was  sent  to  sweep 
them  all  away;  but  a  priest,  named  Tezbi,  along  with  his 
wife  and  children,  were  saved  in  a  box  of  wood  into  which 
they  had  entered  along  with  all  kinds  of  seeds  and  animals. 
After  some  time  Tezbi,  wearying  of  his  confinement,  sent 
forth  the  vulture,  which,  however,  did  not  return  to  him. 
Then  he  sent  forth  other  birds,  but  they  did  not  come  back. 
Finally  he  sent  out  the  humming-bird,  which  returned  with 
a  branch  in  its  beak.  And  of  this  event  they  had  paintings 
in  their  temples,  which  they  showed  to  the  white  men  who 
arrived  amongst  them.  (Herrera,  Hist,  general  de  los 
Hecos,  Madrid,  1601.) 

The  Caribs  of  South  America  relate  that  Luoguo,  the 
first  man  and  god,  created  the  earth  and  the  sea,  and  made 
the  earth  as  fair  as  the  beautiful  garden  in  the  heaven 
where  dwell  the  gods.  Luoguo  dwelt  for  some  time  among 
the  men  he  had  made.  He  drew  the  man  out  of  his  navel 
and  out  of  his  thigh  which  he  cut  open.  One  of  the  first 
men  was  Racumon,  who  was  transformed  into  a  great  ser- 
pent with  a  human  head,  and  he  lived  twined  round  a  great 
Cabatas  tree  and  ate  of  its  fruit,  and  gave  to  those  who 
passed  by.  At  that  time  the  Caribs  lived  to  a  great  age, 
and  never  w^axed  old  or  died.  Afterwards  they  found  a 
garden  planted  with  manioc,  and  on  that  they  fed.  But 
they  became  wicked,  and  a  flood  came  and  swept  them  away. 
(De  la  Borde,  Eeise  zu  den  Caraiben,  i,  pp.  380-85.) 

''The  belief  in  a  deluge,"  says  Humboldt,  "is  not  found 
merely  among  the  Tamanaks,  but  is  a  portion  of  a  whole 
system  of  historical  traditions  of  which  the  scattered  ac- 
counts are  to  be  gathered  from  the  Maipures  of  the  Great 
Cataract,  the  Indians  of  Rio  Crevato,  which  pours  into  the 
Cauca,  and  almost  from  all  the  races  in  the  Upper  Orinoko. 
(Humboldt,  Reise  in  die  Aequinoctial  Gegenden,  iii,  p. 
406.) 


230  THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

This  is  the  tradition  of  the  Tamanaks,  in  Guiana: 
"At  the  time  of  our  ancestors  the  whole  earth  was  over- 
flowed. Then  two  persons  alone  were  saved,  a  man  and  a 
woman,  who  remained  on  Mount  Tamamaku,  which  is  not 
far  from  the  Cucivero  river,  where  our  ancestors  formerly- 
dwelt.  They  lamented  sore  over  the  loss  of  their  friends 
and  relations,  and  as  they  wandered  sadly  about  the  moun- 
tain they  heard  a  voice  which  told  them  to  cast  the  kernels 
of  the  nuts  of  a  certain  palm  tree  backwards  over  their 
shoulders.  They  did  so,  and  out  of  the  nuts  cast  by  the 
woman  there  arose  females,  and  out  of  those  cast  by  the  man 
sprang  males.  (Nachrichten  aus  dem  Lande  Guiana,  by 
Salvator  Gili,  Hamburg,  1785,  p.  440.) 


Legends  such  as  these,  of  the  Creation,  the  Fall  and  the 
Flood,  exist  throughout  the  earth  and  are  self-evident  and 
sufficient  proofs  of  the  common  origin  of  all  the  religions, 
ancient  and  modem,  of  the  universal  human  race.  Through- 
out all  of  them  we  clearly  see  certain  golden  strands,  which, 
when  followed  up,  all  point  to  and  finally  center  in  the 
opening  chapters  of  Genesis,  where  alone  we  find  all  the 
essential  features  of  all  the  primitive  traditions  of  all  the 
races  and  tribes  of  mankind  in  all  the  ages  of  its  history. 


WORKS  BY  C.  TH.  ODHNER 


ANNAIiS  OF  THE  ITEW  CHUBCH.  Vol.  I.  1688-1850.  Bryn 
Athyn,  Pa.  1904.  Pp.  573,  with  an  index  of  52  pp.  Octavo; 
cloth,  $1.50. 

A  great  storehouse  of  New  Church  History,  in  chronological 
order.  Contains:  1.  The  most  complete  outline  extant  of  the  facts 
connected  with  the  life  and  work  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  2.  No- 
tices of  all  the  important  events  in  the  general  history  of  the  New 
Church,  throughout  the  world.  3.  Brief  biographies  of  all  promi- 
nent members  of  the  New  Church.  4.  Eeferences  to  the  most  im- 
portant articles  in  the  periodical  literature  of  the  Church.  5.  A 
full,  but  simple  bibliography  of  the  whole  literature  of  the  New 
Church,  including  all  editions  of  Swedenborg 's  Writings,  and  of 
collateral  works,  in  all  languages.  6.  Summaries  of  contemporary 
events  in  the  Christian  world. 

Illustrated  with  12  full  page  and  45  half-tone  portraits  of  Swe- 
denborg, eminent  Newchurchmen,  church  buildings,  etc. 

A  BRIEF  VIEW  OF  THE   HEAVENLY  DOCTRINES  OF  THE 

NEW   JERUSALEM.      Second    Edition.      Bryn    Athyn.      1903. 

Pp.  103.     Cloth,  25  cents;  paper,  15  cents. 

A  concise  and  definite  summary  of  the  leading  Doctrines  of  the 

New  Church.     Excellent  not  only  for  missionary  purposes,  but  also 

for  the  instruction  of  children  and  young  people  of  the  Church. 

EMANUEL   SWEDENBORG,   THE   SERVANT    OF   THE   LORD. 

A  true  story  for  the  young.  New  York.  N.  C.  Board  of  Pub- 
lication. 1900.  Pp.  114.  Cloth,  50  cents. 
A  brief  but  correct  and  interesting  biography  of  the  revelator 
of  the  New  Church,  with  a  vivid  account  of  his  personality,  and 
a  striking  summary  of  the  teachings  concerning  *  *  Children  in 
Heaven."  The  little  work  is  furnished  with  a  map  of  Sweden  and 
fourteen  fine  illustrations.  It  has  proved  itself  an  effective  mis- 
sionary among  children,  both  within  and  without  the  New  Church. 

JAMES  JOHN  GARTH  WILKINSON.   Bryn  Athyn.   1901.   Pp.  36. 
Paper,  30  cents. 
A  biographical  sketch  of  a  great  New  Church  scholar  and  writer. 
With  a  portrait  of  Dr.  Wilkinson. 

MICHAEL  SERVETUS.     HIS  LIFE  AND  TEACHINGS.     Phila- 
delphia.    Press  of  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.     1910.     Pp.  96.     Cloth, 
50  cents. 
This  little  work  sets  forth  the  life  and  work  of  a  most  remark- 
able character  in  Church  History,  his  cruel  death  at  the  hands  of 


John  Calvin,  the  fate  of  Calvin  in  the  other  world,  and  a  syste- 
matic view  of  the  Theology  of  Servetus,  which  is  shown  to  be  in 
wonderful  harmony  with  the  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church.  Inter- 
esting and  instructive  to  members  of  the  Church;  valuable  also  as 
a  missionary.     Fine  portraits  of  Servetus  and  Calvin. 

ROBERT  HINDMARSH.  A  BIOGRAPHY.  Philadelphia.  1895. 
Pp.  116.     Cloth,  50  cents. 

Presents  not  only  a  biography  of  the  great  founder  of  the  New 
Church  as  a  distinct  organization,  but  also  the  founding  of  the 
Church  and  its  subsequent  history  in  England  until  the  death  of 
Hindmarsh  in  1835. 

With  a  portrait  of  Hindmarsh  and  three  appendices:  I.  Eeasons 
for  separating  from  the  Old  Church;  II.  Principles  of  ecclesiastical 
government,  by  Hindmarsh;  and,  III.  A  chronological  and  bio- 
gra}>hi('al  list  of  New  Church  ministers  in  England. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  WRITINGS  CONCERNING  THEM- 
SELVES. Biyn  Athyn,  Pa.  1902.  Pp.  46.  Paper,  15  cents. 
A  compilation  and  systematic  presentation  of  some  of  the  most 
definite  passages  in  the  Writings  of  the  New  Church,  dealing  with 
the  nature  of  Swedenborg's  inspiration  and  the  relation  of  his 
Writings  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  Also,  some  teachings  respect- 
ing "authority,"  and  respecting  the  affirmative  principle  and  the 
negative. 

COERBSPONDENCES   OF   CANAAN.      A   study   of   the   spiritual 
geography  and  historv  of  the  land  and  the  nations  of  the  Word. 
Bryn  Athyn,  Pa.     1910.     Pp.  146.     Cloth,  75  cents. 
An   importaifit  text-book  for  New  Church  Schools  and  Teachers, 
and   of  interest  to  every  student  of  the  Word. 

THE  GOLDEN  AGE.  The  Story  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church. 
Bryu  Athyn,  Pa.     1913.     Pp.  230.     Cloth,  $1.00. 


All    of   these   works   may   be   obtained   from 

THE  ACADEMY  BOOK  ROOM, 

Bryn  Athyn,  Pa. 


Il^ 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


0035521953 


73^,   f  ^ 


m 


Vl/^,3(^ 


JUM  1   1Q91 


